Perpetual Thursday

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The "F**K Catholicism" Facebook Group

2009-07-11T23:27:00.002-04:00

Heads up: The following post concerns, partly, a group that has chosen a name containing the "F-bomb," and, as such, the word in question appears several times throughout the post, as I have chosen not to censor it here. This is simply an advance apology and warning, so you are not too shocked when and if you read on.

This afternoon, I noticed that several of my friends joined a Facebook called "PETITION FACEBOOK TO TERMINATE GROUP CALLED 'F**K CATHOLICISM.'" Normally I ignore this sort of thing, because I firmly believe that using Facebook for anything even remotely serious (other than viral marketing) is a waste of time, but for some reason I decided to take a look at the group anyway. Of course, this shortly led me to take a look at the other group in question: namely, "Fuck Catholicism."

Fuck Catholicism is one of a series of group collectively known as the "Fuck X Series," all of which are related to the larger group "Religion is NOT above Criticism!" As you can probably guess, this is a group populated primarily by atheists who have determined that the best way to demonstrate their supposed superiority above non-atheists is by insulting them and tossing about swear-words, all while waving about their little free speech banners and insisting that being immature on the internet is a their right and privilege.

Of course, the mere fact that anyone would dare suggest that Facebook remove their group for ANY reason - despite the fact that Facebook is a privately owned website - immediately makes those in question guilty of "hate." It doesn't matter if they are offended because of their religious affiliations, are standing up against offences in general, or are simply standing up for cleaner language - they are all bunched together as "haters" who are against "free speech." Of course, Facebook, while open to the public, isn't the property of the public, and as such Facebook's owners, administrators, and moderators have the right to control what appears on their site - but that's not the point here, is it?

Before I go on, I want to make one thing clear: I did not, and have no plans to join the Petition group to shut down "Fuck Catholicism." Now, I will say that I don't think groups that contain the word "fuck" in the title should be allowed a Facebook - but as there are many groups outside of the "Fuck X Series" that feature the word in their respective titles, I don't think that "Fuck Catholicism" or any of the other groups from the series can be banned solely on that criteria, unless all groups with "fuck" in the title go with them, which is rather unlikely.

Moving past the vulgarity used in the title, however, I simply don't see any reason to lobby for the group's removal from Facebook. Is the group offensive? Obviously. Does it qualify as a "hate" group? Probably. Are the majority of concerned parties in favour of the groups removal? Well, given that, at the time of this writing, "Fuck Catholicism" has only 471 members, while "PETITION FACEBOOK TO TERMINATE GROUP CALLED 'F**K CATHOLICISM.'" has 9087 members, I'd say absolutely.

But will the group actually get removed? Probably not. Even if it is removed, will that have any positive effect on it's members? Almost certainly not. Will other groups spring up to takes it's place? Most likely. Will the sentiment and the immaturity remain? Of course.

No, Free Speech does not apply to starting Facebook groups - again, Facebook is privately owned - so Facebook doesn't have to let them stay, but they don't have to shut them down either. If a group decides that the best way to express themselves is to act immature and swear, then let them! I'm not offended, and no once else should be either, because there isn't any reason to care about what a group of people who are obviously extremely childish think.

There are always going to be immature, mean, nasty, and "hateful," people around - the world has no shortage of jackasses. Furthermore, these people are always going to find ways of getting together to whine, complain, and try and piss off others. The best thing to do, more often than not, is to just ignore them. For example, had the Petition group not existed, I would never have even found the "Fuck Catholicism" group - after all, it has less than 500 members.

Sure, spreading knowledge is often good - but, conversely, no publicity is bad publicity, and "Fuck Catholicism" is getting a large part of it's publicity from the very people who are trying to shut them down.

Which brings me back to the point: "Fuck Catholicism" is a group populated by people who have decided that the best way to express their atheism is to be immature. They are school yard bullies - the best thing to do is to just ignore them. Let them be immature in their own little clubs, and occupy your own time with greater things: the entire world is out there, so don't focus on a small group of people who would rather try and piss you off then take full advantage of it themselves. Go out and make and find something more important to focus on - like, oh, pretty much anything.

May all your Thursdays be Perpetual...

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=79531134869 - Petition Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7823348626 - Fuck Catholicism

Viva La Vida - First Impressions

2008-05-31T16:25:00.002-04:00

Emily started blogging again, so, not to be outdone, I'm going to do the same. After all, I got her blogging the first time, so it would look bad if she was still doing it and I wasn't, right? Besides, I miss it.

A short while ago, Coldplay released the song Violet Hill (from their upcoming album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends) as a free download via their website. I like some of their music, and I really like free stuff, so, of course, I downloaded it.

Now, while I liked Violet Hill, one thing about it stuck out to me: with its dark, slightly rough sound and emphasised guitars, it didn't sound like Coldplay's style. It has hints, sure - the piano work and Chris Martin's signature falsetto - but, for better or worse, it wasn't the Colplay I was used to.

Since then, however, I've managed to get my hands on three more tracks from the album: Life In Technicolor, Viva la Vida, and Lost? (acoustic version). Here is what I think...

Life in Technicolor: As first track on the album, Life in Technicolor makes a nice opening. Though there is a (very small) amount of vocal work, there are no lyrics on the track, and that works perfectly. There really isn't a whole lot to say about opening tracks, but I can honestly say that this one stands out as possibly the best opening track I've ever heard (note that I'm not counting albums that open with regular songs - I'm talking about tracks set up just to open the album). It builds up well and even manages to be pretty catchy.

Viva la Vida: This one struck me, because I wasn't expecting it at ALL. After listening to Violet Hill enough, I expected the whole album to have the same dark, rough sound. Not Viva la Vida. Featuring a string section, a piano, great vocals, and even bells, Viva la Vida sound like a victorious symphony. The lyrics, on the other hand, talk of times gone past from the eyes of a man who once had the world in the palm of his hand, and are delivered by Martin in way the fits the music to perfection (no falsetto here - sorry ladies).

Lost? (acoustic): To the extent of my knowledge, Lost? is a bonus track, and acoustic version of the similarly named track Lost!. However, don't like the word "acoustic" give you the wrong impression: Lost? doesn't have any of the coffee-house sound that today is too often associated with acoustic music. There's no guitar work here - nothing but Chris Martin and a lone piano. Very slightly dark, quiet, and calm, Lost? still holds a hint of the epic downfall vibe that perforates Viva la Vida. Again, Martin passes on the falsetto to retain a slightly more sombre sound to the song, which fits it very well.

Overall: Out of the four tracks I've heard, Viva la Vida itself if my favourite, and certainly the most Coldplay-like. While none of these three are as dark and rough as Violet Hill (which, despite not being Coldplay-like, is, again, a pretty good song), they all hold a flash, musically and lyrically, of the same dark vibe, and the same suggestion of an epic downfall.

From what I've heard so far, Viva la Vida or Death and all his Friends is indeed a step in a new direction for Coldplay. Again, it's darker, and it's more epic. However, it is still Coldplay at heart. After hearing Violet Hill for the first time I was worried that it may not be a good change, but having heard these new three tracks, and getting a better idea of how Violet Hill fits in with them, I can honestly say that it's a change for the better. I'm looking forward to the albums release, as it could very well be the best Coldplay album yet.

All for now - until next time, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

"Energy" Drinks

2008-03-20T01:35:00.001-04:00

This can filled with drink
Which I have not yet tasted
Is still so sexy

Recently, whilst out shopping, I came across a couple of energy drinks. Now, generally, I'm not much for energy drinks, for two reasons: a) they don't seem to have any effect on me, and b) they all seem to taste like urine. Albeit, they sometimes taste like flavoured urine, but that's still urine. Regardless of those two reasons, however, these two cans stood out. Why? It wasn't because they sounded particularly tasty. Nor was it because they had eye-catching cans. No, it was because of their names: Aphrodite Love Drink, and Peep One Erotic Drink. I could make a witty comment, like "What do you get when you combine Red Bull with Viagra?" (done); I could talk about how perverted it is to see that stuff next to the root beer where any kid could read it's e-mail spam-like label (done); or I could even write a haiku about it (done). But I won't (because I just did) - instead, I'll take the high road, and post pictures I took of the cans, so you can think for yourself. Read the full post to see them.

I took a few others as well - among them shots of the backs of the cans (ingredients and company information) - and uploaded them to Facebook, so you can check them out at:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18360&l=ef3a7&id=658484513

As a closing note, let me answer the real question all this raises: how did they taste? The Aphrodite Love Drink was great. Essentially, it's Black Currant juice - yummy. The Peep One Erotic Drink was, sadly, a typical energy drink - urine flavoured.

Branch Water

2008-03-14T20:29:00.018-04:00

On Monday, Quezon, Mike (who was visiting), and I went to youth group together. Whilst there, a terrible thing happened - I told a story. Now, granted, everyone who knows me long enough hears at least one of my stories at least one time, but up until then, the wonderful folks at Youth Group had been spared. No longer - thanks to Mike saying just the right thing at just the wrong time, I began telling a story that I like to tell everyone I can - to pass it on to others, as it was passed to me. It went over pretty well, and some people wanted me to put the tale into writing so they could memorize it. Now, while technically this is against the rules of oral storytelling, I decided that this one time, I could make an exception. So, without further ado, allow me to present Branch Water - Unabridged. Read the full post for the story, ya' dig?

Branch Water
As Told by Patrick J. Simmons
Once upon a time, a young boy was given an school assignment to write an essay on a topic of his choice. He chose to write his essay on Branch Water. He worked very hard on his essay: researched every detail, wrote in his best handwriting, made no mistakes. So, when the time came to submit his essay to his teacher, he was confident that he would receive high marks on it. He handed his essay to his teacher, who got no further than the title when she snatched a pen, marked the essay with a bright red "F," thrust the essay back at the boy and sent him off to the principals office.

As the boy sat down in the office, the principal asked him, "so, why are you here today?"
"Honestly," responded the boy, "I'm not sure. I turned in an essay, and thought bit was pretty good, but the teacher gave me an F and sent me here."
"Well, that's terrible," said the principal, "what was your essay topic?"
"Branch water."
"Ack! Out! Out! You are hear by expelled! Get out of my office, and out of my school!"

So, the boy went home - expelled and confused. When he got home, his mother was in the kitchen.
"Well, you're home early. Is everything okay?"
"I got expelled, mom."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. I just turned in my essay and my teacher failed me and sent me to the principal, and then he expelled me as soon as he heard what my topic was."
"Well, that's terrible," said his mother, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"Get out of my house," yelled his mother, "get out now! You are no longer my son! OUT!"

So the boy, disowned, expelled, and confused, went to the home of his Aunt Ruth. He knocked on the door, and she opened:
"Well if it isn't my favourite nephew! What are you doing here?"
"Well Aunt Ruth," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I came here."
"Well, that's terrible," said Aunt Ruth, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"GADS! Go! Go away! Now! Begone," yelled Aunt Ruth, slamming the door in his face.

So the boy, shunned, disowned, expelled, and confused, went out to a local park to sleep on a bench. As he began to drift asleep, a hobo came up to him:
"Hey kid, this is my bench. What's a little boy like you doing sleeping on a park bench anyway?"
"Well hobo," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, so I came here."
"Well, that's terrible," said the hobo, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"ARRRGGH," screamed the hobo, running away and getting hit by a car and killed as he ran across the street.

So the boy, partially responsible for the death of a hobo, shunned, disowned, expelled, and confused, went to sleep on the bench. In the morning, he awoke to find a police officer standing over him.
"Well hello there my lad," said the police officer, "what are you doing out here sleeping on this park bench?"
"Well officer," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep here."
"Well, that's terrible," said the police officer, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
The police officer gasped and snapped a pair of handcuffs on the boy. "You're under arrest."

The next day, the boy, with an arrest record, partially responsible for the death of a hobo, shunned, disowned, expelled, and confused, went to his court hearing.
"All rise for The Most Honourable High Lord Over-Seer The Long-Shanks," said the bailiff.
Everyone rose.
The Most Honourable High Lord Over-Seer The Long-Shanks entered and was seated.
Everyone sat.
"So my boy," said The Most Honourable High Lord Over-Seer The Long-Shanks, "what brings you to my courtroom?"
"Well your honor," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so here I am."
"Well, that's terrible," said The Most Honourable High Lord Over-Seer The Long-Shanks, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"Thirty years!"
The gavel smashed down, and the boy was taken away to server his thirty year prison sentence.

On his third day in prison, the boy, a convicted felon, with an arrest record, partially responsible for the death of a hobo, shunned, disowned, expelled, and confused, was talking with a fellow inmate.
"So," said the fellow inmate, whose name was Bubba, "what's a kid like you doing prison?"
"Well Bubba," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, so here I am."
"Well, that's terrible," said Bubba, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
Bubba screamed like a little girl, ran over to the nearest guard, grabbed a home-made machete the guard had confiscated, and shanked himself.

Thirty years later, the boy (well, actually, he's a man now, but to keep things simple, we'll keep calling him the boy) was released from prison. Since he was now old enough, had no where else to go, and had seen one to many "Cheers" re-runs, he went out to a bar. As he sat at the bar, the bartender looked at him:
"Wow," he said, "you look awful. What's your story?"
"Well," said the boy "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, then, in prison, I told an inmate named Bubba about it, and he shanked himself, then I got released, and here I am."
"Well, that's terrible," said the bartender, polishing a glass that didn't really need it, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
The bartender dropped the glass. "Oh," he stammered, "oh wow... Listen, here's what you need to do - go to the old lady who lives across the street, tell her I sent you. She'll help you out."

So the boy went across the street to the home of the old woman, and knocked on the door.
"Who are you," asked the old woman, opening the door.
"The bartender sent me."
"Oh, well then it most be important. What's your story?"
Well," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, then, in prison, I told an inmate named Bubba about it, and he shanked himself, then I got released and went to the bar, and when I told the bartender my story, he sent me here."
Well, that's terrible," said the old woman, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"Sweet honeyed yams," exclaimed the old woman. "Here, take this jar of cookies to the lumberjack who lives out in the woods, and he will help you."

So out into the woods the boy went, cookies in tow. Unfortunately, he didn't have directions, so it took him four days of walking to find the lumberjack's cabin, and he get rather hungry and ate most of the cookies.

In fact, he ate all of the cookies.

But he did arrive at the lumberjack's cabin, and was greeted by the jumberjack.
"Well now, who are you?"
"The old woman sent me. Errr... here," said the boy, handing the lumberjack the empty jar.
"Ate the cookies, huh?"
"Yeah. Sorry..."
That's okay. Everybody does. So," said the jumberjack, "what's your story?"
"Well," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, then, in prison, I told an inmate named Bubba about it, and he shanked himself, then I got released and went to the bar, and when I told the bartender my story, he sent me to the old woman, who sent me here."
"Well, that's terrible," said the lumberjack, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"By the power of Greyskull," exclaimed the lumberjack, "you need to leave, now!"
"But, where do I go?"
"Here, take this axe to the Old Indian Fort at the other end of the forest, and they will help you. Now, go!"

So the boy went, and, after a week and a half of wandering through the forest, reached the Fort, where he was greeted by Chief Falling Rocks.
"What brings you here, stranger," asked Chief Falling Rocks.
"The lumberjack sent me," said the boy, handing Chief Falling Rocks the axe.
"Ah, I see," said the Chief, accepting the axe, "so then, what's your story?"
"Well," said the boy, "I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, then, in prison, I told an inmate named Bubba about it, and he shanked himself, then I got released and went to the bar, and when I told the bartender my story, he sent me to the old woman, who sent me to the lumberjack, who sent me here."
"Well, that's terrible," said Chief Falling Rocks, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"Bullocks," exclaimed the chief, "go away and never come back!"
"But where do I go?"
"Take this special carved arrowhead back to the old woman, and she'll tell you - now begone!"

So back to the old woman the boy went. Upon arriving at her home, he immediately gave her the arrowhead.
"Well I see they've sent you back to me. Oh dear."
"Well, what do I do," asked the boy.
"Take this quarter," replied the woman, producing a coin, "to my husband in the basement."

Down the stairs the boy went, and found the old woman's husband.
"Who in blue blazes are you?"
"Your wife sent me down here," the boy said, handing him the quarter.
"Oh, wow, this must be important - my wife hasn't given me a penny in over fifty years. So then, what's your story?"
The boy sighed, then began: "Well, I turned in an essay I wrote for school, and when my teacher read it, she failed me and sent me to the principals office, and when I told him my essay topic, he expelled me, so I went home, but when I told my mother my topic, she kicked me out, so I went to my Aunt Ruth, but when I told her my topic, she slammed the door in my face, then I met a hobo, and when I told him my topic, he ran away and was hit by a car, so I went to sleep on a park bench, and when I woke up, there was a police officer, but when I told him my topic, he arrested me, so I went to a hearing, but when I told the judge my topic, he gave me a thirty year prison sentence, then, in prison, I told an inmate named Bubba about it, and he shanked himself, then I got released and went to the bar, and when I told the bartender my story, he sent me to your wife, who sent me to the lumberjack, who sent me to Chief Falling Rocks, who sent me back to your wife, who sent me down here."
"Well, that's terrible," said the husband, "what was your topic?"
"Branch water."
"Oy vey! Get out! Out now! Out of my basement and my house! Never come back!"
"But, but, but," stammered the boy.
"But," replied the husband, "but, go across the street to the bartender, and he will explain everything to you at last. Your journey will be over."

Overjoyed, the boy ran up the stairs, out of the house, and - was hit by a truck.

The moral of this story is: look both ways before crossing the street.

The End

Firefox Trick: Rhapsody Player Sidebar

2008-02-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

Firefox is an awesome browser. In addition, Rhapsody is an awesome music service. So, using the two together makes perfect sense, right? I certainly think so, but the thing is, I don't really like how the Rhapsody playlist appears in its own little window - I would much rather have it open in the sidebar, so that it stays right with me in an easy to access spot as I browser Rhapsody and the rest of the web. Fortunately, not only is it possible to get the Rhapsody player to open in the Firefox sidebar, it's easy to do and doesn't require more than a minute to set up. (Read the full post for the instructions.)

All you need to do is set up a bookmark for the Rhapsody Player (not, mind you, for Rhapsody.com, but for the player itself):
1. Open your Bookmarks menu (or go to the Bookmarks toolbar), right click where you want your bookmark to appear, and select "New Bookmark" from the right-click menu.
2. Name the Bookmark something like "Rhapsody Player," and past "http://www.rhapsody.com/player" into the Location box.
3. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar box.
Done!

Using the bookmark is easy:
1. Go to Rhapsody.com and log in.
2. Open in Bookmark.
3. Start adding music.

Nothing more to it than that. Once you've logged in and opened your bookmarked player you're free to browse around Rhapsody or any other website all you want - the player will run nicely in the sidebar and keep you logged in and your music playing.

"White Tree" Blogger Classic Template

2007-12-06T02:18:00.000-05:00

I've been planning on creating a few Blogger templates for public release since sometime early thing year, but it took me until last night to actually get it together enough to finish one.

"White Tree" is a simple, clean, and flexible three-column liquid-layout template designed for use with Blogger (under the 'Classic' templates system). You can see it in action at Perpetual Templates, a blog I set up for the purpose of testing and displaying the template, and possibly future ones.

White Tree is heavily based on the template I'm currently using here on Perpetual Thursday (also created by me). Actually, as you can probably tell by looking at it, White Tree is almost a duplicate of Perpetual Thursday's theme - it's just white instead of black, has a tree instead of lightning, and doesn't display abbreviated posts on the main page.

However, this is enough to make it look very different from the template here, and it really did come out very well, if I do say so myself. I was tempted to use it here, actually, but I've kept this place pretty dark since it started, and really don't want to change it.

Anywho - you can download the code for White Tree as a text file at:
http://alternative-internet.com/webmasterstuff/sectionc/whitetreebloggerclassic.txt

The terms for using it can be found on deviantART:
http://hobbramble.deviantart.com/art/quot-White-Tree-quot-for-Blogger-71402052

I hope that somebody finds a use for it, as I'm very pleased with it and would hate to see it go to waste. I'm working on a version to use with the updated Blogger template system (as opposed to classic templates), and might try and get a Wordpress port together in the future - not sure yet.

Coming later this week: Why Harry Forbes Should Get Sacked. Stay tuned, and may all your Thursdays be Perpetual - esp. tomorrow, happy Saint Nicholas' Day!

How about "The Orange Oaf?"

2007-12-02T01:50:00.000-05:00

Well, once again I've managed to go for while without posting anything, and then suddenly come back with a complete overhaul of Perpetual Thursday's template. This time, however, I've finally got it to where I am truly, completely happy with it. It's big, it's flexible, it's clean, it's awesome. I'm very happy with it.

Now, I promised in my last post that I would have some witty commentary lined up for this post, and, as much as possible, I do not disappoint. So, without further ado, I want to talk about the Orange Order. More specifically, I want to talk about their new superhero: ORANGE MAN!

From the BBC:
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's... well he doesn't have a name yet, but the Orange Order hopes to win a new generation of fans with their own superhero.

The origins of the Orange Order may date from the 17th century battle for supremacy between Protestantism and Catholicism, but they have high hopes for this 21st century makeover.

King William has been an Orange icon for more than 300 years, but it seems the curly wig and pointed hat combo were not doing it for the kids any more.

While the unnamed character still sports a sash, the traditional bowler hat has been replaced by a trendy purple cape."

Read the full article...

Now, originally I had simply intended to give some kind of witty commentary on the order (probably with some little jab like, "silly protestants, tricks are for kids"), but after giving it some thought, I realized that this pretty much speaks for itself. So, rather than come up with as many silly names for him as I could (the Orange Oaf was the only really good one I could come up with), I've decided to create a couple of helpers for Capitan Citrus: the Anglican Avengers!

The Rump Ranger

I was originally going to call this fellow "Gay Man," but that's a bit overdone, so I went with the Rump Ranger Instead. He's the teams fashion expert - designing the costumes and fixing the hairstyles.

He might also be the Tangerine Tomfool's domestic parter, but no one is sure. After all, we're not supposed to know their secret identities.

His theme song is a show tune. His special power is the "gay ray." Or perhaps the "gay-zer," whichever sounds more idiotic.

The Heritic

I went over a lot of different names for this fellow, and I'll admit that this wasn't my first choice. However, "Super Satan" sounded really, really bad. So I went with this one.

He's the reluctant, bad-guy helper. He seldom agrees with Power Pumpkin up there, and they often get into it with each other. However, in the end, the share the same common goal: leading souls away from the Catholic Church. So, when they need to, they can put aside their differences and work together.

His theme music is "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. His super power is his "magikal" bow, which which he shoots "atheist arrows."

Well, that's as far as I'm willing to take this joke - however, if you can come up with your own additions to the team (pictures not necessary if you don't want to do em'), please comment and let me know!

Hillary Clinton Hostage Situation

2007-11-30T18:30:00.000-05:00

I was in the middle of posting something else just a second ago, but I've got something far more interesting to post about right now, so I'll get back to it.

Right now, as I am writing this, there is a hostage situation at the Hillary Clinton campaign office in New Hampshire. According to WCB TV/DT Boston:

"A man claiming to have a bomb took two workers hostage Friday at a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire, police said.

The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 Main St. in Rochester. The man had what appeared to be a bomb strapped to himself inside the Democrat's office, according to Bill Shaheen, a top state campaign official."

At the moment, according to Fox News (yeah, I know), the police is talking to someone inside. If the reports are correct, "the assailant said he wanted to speak with Senator Clinton" (FoxNews.com). However, if the television report is to be believed, there is "zero chance" that the negotiator(s) will allow the 'assailant' (described by witnesses as a "man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair" - WCB TV/DT) to speak with Hillary.

"Nearby businesses have been evacuated, and the St. Elizabeth Seaton School has been locked down. Several elementary and middle schools in the area also locked their doors in what officials called a 'soft lockdown.' Children at the McLelland School, Maple Street School and William Allen School were only being released directly to their parents... Clinton... is not in New Hampshire, was attending a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia, where she canceled her address because of the hostage situation." (Again from WCB TV/DT)

Now, Fox has said that their report that there were negotiations taking place are NOT confirmed, and that they are awaiting for more information.

The swat truck is currently moving, and Fox is saying that earlier five swat team members were seen, but police would not say whether or not they entered the building.

I'm obviously not the only guy blogging about this - Jenn of the Jungle is commenting on it over at Screw Liberals. And as I watch, more blogs and news agencies continue to pick up, with articles showing up at The Guardian, The Baltimore Swamp, The Huffington Post, Slacker at Work, WMUR 9 New Hampshire, MSNBC, Time, the BBC, the Palmetto Scoop, CNN, and the Mindful Mission, Crazy News, Losing the War on Humor, WGAL 8, The Age, globeandmall.com, KOCO 5 Oklahoma City, ABC News, the New York Times, A Rake's Progress (warning: moronic liberal), Sword at the Ready, Las Policitas, Daily Kos (nothing much yet, but expect liberal nonsence), Newsvine, Reuters, and Support Your Local Gunfighter. (List last updated at 5:45 p.m. GMT-5)

In addition, Fox now says that there is a possibility that there may only be one hostage or even no hostages left inside.

It's worth checking out WMUR 9, as in addition to their article, they have a live video feed. On their feed they are currently saying that the hostages are indeed out of the building, and Fox is now reporting the same.

According to the video feed from WMUR 9, the suspect is locally known in Rochester, and earlies told his son to "watch the news." And they are now saying there there IS still a possibility that there is one, or possibly more, hostage(s) inside.

WGAL 8 as recently uploaded a video of an interview with a witness, which you can see at: http://www.wgal.com/video/14739208/index.html

WMUR 9 has said they they saw a person they were told is a negotiator on a cell phone talking to someone. They say there were previously told that police were going to attempt to get a phone inside, but do not know whether or not it is inside.

In addition, they say that the suspect possibly has a mental illness, and is most likely in his 40s. There is also a rumour circling saying that he is possibly known to the Rochester police department. However, none of this has been confirmed.

In addition, someone on Craigslist is offering cash (supposedly 1000 U.S. Dollars) for video of the incident or interviews with witnesses.

Fox news now says that they have eyewitness reports claiming the suspect is a man named Troy Stanley. In addition, they are reporting the possiblity that the suspect does NOT have a bomb, but rather, road flares taped to his chest. None of this has yet been confirmed by authorities.

It's worth noting that several of the Fox News reporters have stopped saying "the suspect" or "the man," and rather referring to him as "Stanley," despite the fact that the suspect's identity had not yet been confirmed.

A recent comment on the post over at Screw Liberals describes Stanley as "a government conspiracy nut who claims the government has planted a bug in his head." This isn't confirmed yet either. *wink*

ABC News reports on their website that the suspect is "...a man described as a well-known local resident with a history of emotional problems who told his son to "watch the news today." He is said to be in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair." This fits with what everyone else is reporting.

WMUR 9 reports police ARE indeed communicating with the suspect, who is still inside.

Both WMUR 9 and Fox News is currently awaiting a press conference from law enforcement officials, which they expect to happen soon. WMUR also says that they are no longer sure that the two hostages previously reported as released were, indeed, released. They do say that they are certain ONE hostage has been released, but they are unsure about the other two. Both Fox News and WCVB TV/DT still report that the two additional hostages were released.

WMUR just played some footage of a woman who works at a restaurant called "The Governor's Inn," who says the the suspect takes stepson came in for coffee and described the suspect as unemployed, possibly getting a divorce, and a heavy drinker. She said he did not give his name, but said he and his mother had been interviewed by police. None of what she said has been confirmed.

A U.S. News blog at ABC News currently reports that 3 hostages have been released - this is not confirmed (I am getting sick of saying that).

As I wait for the press conference to start, I'd like to post a little commentary on this issue. More specifically, on Rake Morgan's take: "a man described as 'mentally ill' has strapped on a bomb, walked into a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, taken hostages, and is threatening to harm himself and everyone around him.

Earlier today we received the email copied below from one of Hillary’s foremost character assassins, a man who could also be called 'mentally ill,' Robert Morrow. Using the anti-abortion rant to incite others to commit violence is not unheard of. In this case, Morrow is claiming that Hillary wants to 'kill babies' because 'it’s God’s law.'

Put those thoughts into the head of another, armed mentally ill person and it would not surprise me if that’s what it took to cause today’s crisis in Rochester."

Ah yes, of course - Hillary's pals come out to say that this is all the pro-lifers' fault. What an absolute dumbass. I'll get into to that more later - the press conference has started.

The police conference is taking place right now (WMUR 9 and Fox News bothy have coverage). Rochester Police Capitan Paul Callahan will not confirm any names, the number of hostages, anything about the suspect, or the "road flare/bomb" rumour. In other words, he's saying pretty much nothing.

I don't have a problem with that at all. It's their choice. Still, not a very informative conference.

WMUR is reporting that area residents are not in danger.

Sorry about my sporadic updates and de-connected writing, but I'm trying to keep up as much as I can.

The Hillary campaign site as a little message up, which you can view at by clicking here.

I didn't mention it earlier, but both the nearby Barack Obama and John Edwards campaign offices have been evacuated as part of the "hostage crisis."

Good lord, have I really been blogging about Hillary Clinton for over an hour? Yikes.

According to Fox News the suspects ex-wife says that he is a "paranoid schizophrenic" and that he was not taking his medication. This has as of yet not been confirmed.

The suspect is NOT, as was previously said, Stanley. Though the suspect's identity has not yet been unconfirmed, Foster's Daily Democrat identifies him one Leeland Eisenburg - a 40 something man with a history of mental illness, and ex-wife who says he's a paranoid schizophrenic, and a step son who says his been drinking. In other words, nothing new, just a different name.
How to make yourself look like a complete dumbass part 2: Rake Morgan gave us one lesson, now it's time for another, courtesy from a comment on the ABC news article, posted by one eddix64: "Two words come to mind when I read stories like this: Gun Ban"

No one ever said the guy has a gun. In fact, a man interviewed by WMUR who says he has talked to one of the hostages inside via cell phone (he is a co-volunteer) claims that the girl he talked to said the suspect does NOT have a gun. Obviously, there is no way of confirming this, but there still isn't a reason to believe that the fellow inside has a gun.

Hillary's location has finally been released - she's at her home in Washington.
WMUR is not playing video of what seems to be images of the arrest of Leeland Eisenberg. He is handcuffed, has been searched, and is being loaded into a vehicle. Fox News is now also reporting that the suspect is most likely Leeland Eisenberg. According to WMUR, News Center 5 has reported to them that Mr. Eisenberg was scheduled to attend a court hearing for domestic violence at one o'clock today.

Before the suspect left the building, a young man believed to be a third hostage left the building and was escorted away by police.

UPDATE: In reference to the Leeland Eisenberg/Tony Stanley suspect bit earlier, Fox News now has this note: "A woman earlier told FOX News that the man's name was Troy Stanley and he was a paranoid schizophrenic who wasn't taking his medication. It was unclear whether Stanley and Eisenberg were one and the same, and police wouldn't confirm whether Stanley was the assailant, or an alias used by him."

WMUR, WCVB TV/DT, and Fox News now all refer to the suspect (now apprehended) as Eisenberg.

I'll have more to say later - for now, I'm going to go eat.

What I've Been Up To

2007-10-29T16:41:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've last blogged, and though I've meant to write something for a few weeks now, I just haven't been able to actually sit down and do it. Partly I've been busy, partly I've been lazy, partly I've just had no motivation... A whole lot of things can be blamed, I suppose, but it doesn't really make a difference. The point is, I haven't blogged much. But here I am, blogging again, and it's about time.

Last Thursday I flew back to Indiana to get my Eagle Scout Board of Review. Tons of paperwork, merit badges, rank advancement, and painting led up the that point, and at last it is all finished. The board passed me - I am, for all intensive purposes, and Eagle Scout.

Of course, I still have to have my Court of Honour ceremony to get the actually award, but the work part is finished. I plan to go back to Indiana for the CoH sometime around Easter 2008, if all goes well.

My first semester of courses at the community college is finally over - and I passed both of my classes. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to take for the second semester yet - possibly a web design/programming course. Dunno' yet. Highschool courses are going alright - Calculus is Hell, and Physics is Purgatory, but I mostly expected that. I'm a little behind in my calc work, but I should be able to catch up by Thanksgiving.

This November - which seems to be creeping up on me rather fast - I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The point is to write 50,000 words between November 1st and 30th - which shouldn't be too bad. I think. Anyway, I wrote a little bit more about it in This Blog is Not Pornography, if you're curious.

Also, since I last posted in here, I've started on my webcomic, 58 Carson Street - and I'm currently up to 10 comics (I'm doing roughly two a week - Tuesdays and Fridays). It's worth checking out if you think I'm funny. Actually, it's not too bad even if you don't think I'm funny.

That's really all I've got for the moment - just thought I'd post about my personal life. I haven't blogged in a while, and I haven't blogged about me for even longer.

Until next time, when I will undoubtedly post some kind of commentary on some kind of news, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

"In and out in 45 minutes."

2007-09-20T19:22:00.000-04:00

Father Peter Daly has one of those smiles that makes me want to punch him just to get him to stop smiling. I'm sure you know the kind of smile I'm talking about. (The guy who does the television advertisements for eHarmony.com has one too. I'm not really sure why, there is just something about the way he smiles that I absolutely cannot stand.)

Father Daly is a writer for the Catholic News Service. I've never really paid him much attention until just recently, when he decided to write a short column about the Tridentine Mass and the motu proprio.

As you may have guessed, it wasn't a very nice column... In fact, it painted a completely negative view of the both the Tridentine Mass and those who go to it. It also gives false impressions about the Mass and people's reasons for attending it.
Father Daly accomplishes all of this using his own research into the subject: "The parish just west of mine has been celebrating the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass for more than 15 years...Almost nobody comes."

Before going on, let me establish that his research ends conveniently with this one parish. This is a very popular method of supporting one's argument: 'Well, it's like that close to me, so it must be like that everywhere.'

Now that he has implied that almost nobody wants to go to the Latin Mass, he moves on to say who does want to go, and why: "Most of the people who come are elderly. They like this Mass because it is quiet and short."

Ah yes, quiet and short. Now, just in case you get the wrong idea here, he is implying that "quiet" is a bad thing. Silent meditation, reflection, and prayer apparently don't count for anything. Someone ought to tell the monks...

Now for one of my two favorite parts of his column: "My neighboring pastor is a bit exasperated by the whole thing. It means a lot of work for him. Under the old liturgy, the priest did just about everything...For my neighbor the extra liturgy means has had to move the alter for the Mass facing the people...Then he has to set out different books and change into different vestments. Most inconvenient of all, he has to prepare and preach a different homily."

Now, rather than point out that if we ditched the Novus Ordo, none of the above would really be problems, I'd like to focus on the words "most inconvenient of all." A very poor choice of words on Father Daly's part, even if the perfectly express what he's getting at here: the less work the priest has to do the better. We're happy to server God, provided it's not inconvenient.

Here's where it gets really good: that's EXACTLY the same argument he used against people who go to the Tridentine Mass! "Under the old liturgy, the priest did just about everything. The people who come to the Latin Mass like that part of the tradition just fine. They don't think they should have to do anything but show up."

There it is, in between complaining about how hard the Tridentine is for priests, he makes the utterly bogus statement that the reason lay people go to it is because they think the Novus Ordo is too hard. Brilliant.

As the column moves on, he continues this line of thought: "A few folks from my parish go over to my neighbor's parish for the Latin Mass...They don't like all the singing at my parish. They don't like shaking hands. They don't like Communion in both forms. They don't like having three readings. They tell me what they like most about the Latin Mass is that they can get in and out in less than 45 minutes."

"They don't like all the singing at my parish."
Two things to note: there is singing at the Tridentine Mass. Not always, but often. Almost every Latin Mass I've gone to has had at least two songs. Even when they don't, I don't see a problem with it. No singing is better than the Protestant hymns they are very likely hearing at your Novus Ordo.

"They don't like Communion in both forms."
First off, it's Holy Communion. Secondly, what's better: people kneeling down and taking the Holy Eucharist reverently on their tongue, or people sauntering up, taking the Holy Eucharist in their dirty hands, popping into their mouth and hopping over to drink His Most Precious Blood out of a cup full of germs from every other person at the church? It's not just about reverence, it's about the spread of germs too.

"They don't like having three readings."
Let me think... The Epistle, the Gospel, and the Last Gospel... One, two... Well, maybe I'm just an ignorant Traditionalist, but it certainly seems like that makes three readings to me.

"They can get in and out in less than 45 minutes."
This is true for your average Low Mass, but not a High Mass. A High Tridentine Mass can take up to 2 hours. But on the subject of the Low Mass - which is better, a 30-45 minute reverent celebration of the Mass, or a one hour long huggy handshake party?

Now Father Daly goes on to tell us more about those nasty, lazy Traditionalists: "For them, a good liturgy is also one where they don't have to speak to anyone or do anything. Their whole attitude says 'I want no commitment and I want no communication.'"

By the time I read this, I was already feeling sorry for Father Daly, and this only made me feel worse. It's like he's trying to make himself look like a complete ass. Cleaning alter linens (there are a lot more for a Tridentine Mass), cleaning the church, caring for all of the many sacred vestments and objects used, serving the Mass (High Masses can have 10 or more servers, easily) - not to mention church socials or stopping for a chat after mass (outside the church, of course). They is quite a bit of commitment necessary for a Tridentine Latin Mass.

To close his article, Father Daly says the following of the Latin Mass: "We can offer it. But almost nobody will come."

Ignoring both the old who come to the Mass they were raised with and the young families who come looking for a truly reverent Mass, Father Daly ends with what almost sounds like a vain hope that the Tridentine will fail.

Father Daly obviously doesn't like the Tridentine Mass, and even shows contempt for those who do. Maybe he hopes to show traditionalists the light with his article, so that they may come to the Novus Ordo he loves so much. If that is is goal, I can confidently say that "almost nobody will come."

However, I don't think that is his intention. I think, more than anything, he is simple trying to pacify his own fears that maybe, just maybe, somebody will come.

Ok, But We Get The Moon!

2007-08-02T15:47:00.001-04:00

Friends, family, fellow bloggers, readers, and whoever else bothers reading Perpetual Thursday: I'm back. I'm settled in the new house, my schedule is somewhat regulated again (ok, once I get a job again, that's going to go haywire, but for the moment anyway, I'm good), I've got internet access, and I'm ready to start posting.

Well, they've done it again - the Russians have done something really, really cool, and as usual, everyone else (esp. the U.S. and Canada) are green with envy. This time, instead of going up, they went down - to the tune of 4,261 meters below the North Pole. From the BBC:

"Russian explorers have planted their country's flag on the seabed 4,200m (14,000ft) below the North Pole to further Moscow's claims to the Arctic.

The rust-proof titanium metal flag was brought by explorers traveling in two mini-submarines, in what is believed to be the first expedition of its kind.

Both vessels have now rejoined the expedition's ships, completing their risky return journey to the surface. "

Read the full BBC article...

Now, if you ask me, that is just plain awesome. But apparently not everyone thinks so:

"Canada, which also claims territory in the Arctic, has criticized the mission. 'This isn't the 15th Century,' Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay told the CTV channel. 'You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say "We're claiming this territory",' he said. "

As always, the minute something neat happens, someone has to make a fuss over it. Can't anybody appreciate, even for a moment, the achievement made?

"'This may sound grandiloquent but for me this is like placing a flag on the moon, this is really a massive scientific achievement,' Sergei Balyasnikov, spokesman for Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Institute, told Reuters...

...Soviet and U.S. nuclear submarines have often traveled under the polar icecap, but until Thursday none had reached the seabed under the pole."

Read the full Reuters article...

To me, that's enough - something amazing's been done, and I'm happy enough to just be impressed by it.

Ok, so maybe I'm a bit jealous too. So much for my country of Patazstan flag.

Well, that about wraps it up for the moment. For those of you looking for something to read between my amazing posts here (I'm assuming that you are hanging on my every word, right?), I'd recommend my little brother's blog: Bling's Blog. It's an amazing combination of spelling errors, odd grammar, bizarre subjects, and more - don't miss it: http://blingsgotblog.blogspot.com/

Also, don't forget to check out the Alternative-Internet.com team blog, This Blog is Not Pornography, at:
http://www.alternative-internet.com/blog/
There you can find out about my various Alternative-Internet.com projects (including my upcoming webcomic and my latest stories), as well as check out my weekly feature: Paddy's Pic of the Week.

Before I close, I'd like to mention that I'm going to start using labels for my posts. At first, this won't affect anything, but eventually I'll add a list a labels to the sidebar so you can just directly to posts concerning the topics that matter to you: religion, politics, philosophy, news, humour, Blogs of Note, and so on. Keep an eye out.

I should be posting again later this week, so until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Where Have I Been?

2007-07-08T13:53:00.000-04:00

It has been a very long time since I last posted in here (and I have yet to post my "really good post"). There is a good reason though: I've been really, really, really busy. In addition to being gone at Boy Scout camp all last week, I've spent all my time either working on Alternative-Internet.com or getting ready to move.

The good news... Well, not exactly good, but the news is that we're moving this Wednesday, so soon the major headache will be at least partly over. Yay.

Once we're all settled, I'll be posting again.

I mean it this time.

After all, I've got a lost to say.

Until then, thanks for reading, just hang tight for a little longer.

BoN: May 2007

2007-05-26T14:42:00.001-04:00

Well, I didn't get to my "really great" post this week... Watch for it Sunday thru Tuesday though, I'll get to it.

Anyway, kicking off my May 2007 roundup of blogs of note is one of the most interesting blogs I've ever read: A Capite Ad Calcem. Now, I wouldn't recommend it to those looking for a quick read, because Anthony's posts seem to often be essays on various topics. Almost like reading the Article of the Day from the Wikipedia. Topics range from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, to Muzzle-loading, to Alcohol, to Bees. Not all posts are full fledged essays, though. Some are short blurbs, images, videos, or comments on various subjects (such as Traditionalist vehicles). All in all, A Capite Ad Calcem stands out of the blogging crowd as incredibly different from anything else I've seen.

I have a confession to make: I'm a gamer. Doom, Wolfenstein 3D (and pre-3D, for that matter), Commander Keen, Mario, Zelda, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Age of Empires, Halo - been there, done that, played em'. Hence my second blog this month: Destructoid. In my humble opinion, Destructoid is one of the best video game blogs and gaming news sources on the web. It's funny, hardcore, and basically totally awesome in every regard. From gaming news, to reviews, to fake games, to who knows what else, they have it, and then some. Go there. Now.

Lastly, I'd like to took my own horn (as well as the respective horns of the staff at Alternative-Internet.com), with my final Blog of Note: This blog is not pornography. As its name would suggest, the official Alternative-Internet.com team blog is NOT pornography. In fact, I'm not really sure what it is, or what it shall be. But you should go there. It gives a fairly accurate look at what my projects at AI are.

Anywho, that's all for this edition of Blogs of Note. Until my next post, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

P.S. Anyone notice? I'm not an insignificant microbe in the TTLB Ecosystem anymore. I'm a multi-cellular microorganism. Rock on. Too bad I may have to leave the ecosystem... More on THAT later...

Prom Night

2007-05-21T22:45:00.001-04:00

I've got a really nice post in the works, as well as a new BoN, both slated to appear later this week. For now, let's talk about me.

Last Saturday night I want to a homeschoolers prom. First, myself and five others had dinner at my house, prepared by my wonderful mother. Then, we went off the the prom. The prom started at 7:00 (we arrived at about 8:00) and lasted until 12:00 midnight (we, along with almost everyone else, left at about 1:00). Three of us (from the peeps who had dinner), along with some others, went out to Stake n' Shake afterwards, than left for home at around 2:00 - 2:30. I got home at around 3:00. I think I got food poisoning, though, because I couldn't get to sleep thanks to a painful stomach cramp and case of diarrhea. I got to sleep (at last) at 11:00 Sunday morning (I was too sick to go to church, or to do anything else for the rest of the day).

Other than being sick after, though, I had a blast! They played some pretty good music, and I danced on and off, and chatted with a bunch of people, and tried to burn down the building, and generally had a good time. Mike Little and I danced Blues Brothers style to Shout, and got a pretty good crown watching. Alex Kesckes came up with a crazy little dance the involved arm-rolls and playing paper-scissors rock with only draws. I myself managed to jump higher than I've ever jumped in a suit before. I even danced a couple of slow songs. Some people (not me) took pictures, and I'll post them if I can get my hands on any.

Now for some things not about me:

The internet seems to be an immense repository for junk and useless content. However, Kevan Davis, creator of the fantastic MMORPG Urban Dead, has created the single most useful thing on the internet: A Single Random Scrabble Tile. Just refresh the page and get a new tile. Wow.

Also, a quick hat tip is in order to Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor who, in his on his "Updates from Trent" page of the NIN website, said the following:

"As the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more...

...Year Zero is selling for $34.99 Australian dollars ($29.10 US). No wonder people steal music...

...when I asked a label rep about this his response was: 'It's because we know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It's the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.'
So... I guess as a reward for being a "true fan" you get ripped off."

Ya' hit the nail right on the head.

Oh... That pun wasn't intended.

It was really bad too.

Anyway, thanks to AfterDawn.com for the NIN link, and I'll have two more posts this week, as noted at the start of this one. Until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Get em' while they're young!

2007-05-03T17:08:00.001-04:00

Go get a bucket. Hell, get a bleeding dump truck. You'll need it.

Recently a website called MassResistance posted two clips (totaling almost 16 minutes) from a video produced by Women's Educational Media called It's Elementary. The clips can be found at:
http://www.massresistance.org/media/video/brainwashing.html
I would heavily recommend watching both of them. I realize that it may take a good while to download, but you should still watch both clips, all the way though. There are also four small clips (one of them, titled "Stomach," is included one of the two bigger clips) that can be viewed on the video's official website:
http://www.womedia.org/itselementary.htm, I'd take a moment to see them as well.

According to Women's Educational Media, It's Elementary is a "documentary for educators that shows how acknowledging gay and lesbian people in schools prevents prejudice and violence." More correctly, it's a documentary that shows a) how to brainwash children, and b) how easily children become pawns.

Children are easily swayed by what they are told, and, when subjected to biased information (in the case of It's Elementary, homosexual propaganda) how they are quick to accept, and furthermore defend, what they are told.

Generally speaking, kids cannot be expected to know more than they are told. They take the information given to them and accept it. You can't expect a child to research an issue.

You can tell a child that the moon is made of cheese, and they are likely to belie it. Certainly, they will later come to realize that this is not true, but at first, having no reason to belie otherwise, they will take what is told to them at face value. It must be true, because it is what they are told.

As children grow up, they continue to absorb more information, they begin to research for themselves, they begin to learn more and more. However, what they are told when they are children remains, and continues to influence their line of thought.

If, as they grow, they are continually subjected to more and more biased information on an issue, then they will only become more firmly rooted in their faith in it. Like unto clay, children as molded with ease, but as they clay hardens, it becomes harder to change it's form.

To shape a future, you shape children. To save a future, you must shape children to uphold good, steadfast morals.

Parents, grandparents, older brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, godparents, priests, teachers: you hold the clay, how will you form it?

(Thanks to The Evil Traditionalist for the link.)

Countries & Presidents

2007-05-03T00:00:00.001-04:00

Recently the news seems to be brimming with reports of presidents making stands for what they believe is right. Just a few to note:

- President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador recently made the following comment: “We are an army of defenders of our Christian faith, we are an army opposed to abortion.”
(Lifesitenews.com, SAN SALVADOR, May 2, 2007)

- President Giorgio Napolitano wrote that "...Italy will not leave Archbishop Bagnasco alone..." in reference to threats made against the Archbishop for his opposition to homosexuality.
(Lifesitenews.com, ROME, May 1, 2007)

- President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic came out against the "religion" of Environmentalism saying it is: "a way of introducing new forms of statism, new forms of masterminding human society from above."
(Lifesitenews.com, LONDON, March 12, 2007)

- President Lech Kaczynski of Poland has come out against homosexuality many times, from his banning of a "gay" pride march, to his statement regarding homosexuality: “If that kind of approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear.”
(Lifesitenews.com, DUBLIN, February 21, 2007)
(Lifesitenews.com, BERLIN, Germany, March 10, 2006)
(Lifesitenews.com, BRUSSELS, October 26, 2005)

- President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia vetoed a bill of EU demands to put "sexual orientation" into anti-discrimination and employment laws. The Latvian Parliament also refused the demands (previous to the veto).
(Lifesitenews.com, LATVIA, June 22, 2006)
(Lifesitenews.com, LATVIA, June 16, 2006)

- President Enrique Bolanos of Nicaragua signed a bill eliminating the "therapeutic abortion" exception in their code, hence, banning all abortion (including in cases of rape and even if doctors certify a risk to 'life or health'). The bill was signed after passing the National Assembly with a vote of 52 in favor, 9 abstentions, and 0 against. You read it right: all abortion banned. ZERO against.
(Lifesitenews.com, MANAGUA, November 20, 2006)

Note that though all of the links I gave were to LifeSiteNews coverage, there has been coverage by other news agencies that you can easily find with about ten minutes of Google searching.

Pretty amazing stuff, though, isn't it? So, now that we've seen other countries' presidents make their stands, let's see what a couple of other presidents are doing:

- President Michelle Bachelet of Chile signed a decree authorizing the distribution of "morning-after" pills to girls 14 and up without parental consent.
(Lifesitenews.com, SANTIAGO, Chile, January 31, 2007)

- President George Walker Bush of the United States of America said at a press conference that he supported the decision of FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to allow the Plan B over-the-counter early abortion pill to be sold to women over 18 without a prescription. He also said: "I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe."
(Lifesitenews.com, WASHINGTON, August 21, 2006)

Originally, I put the following at the begriming of the post, but after some thought, I moved it to the end. Better to prove my point, then make it, in this case:

"I am consistently amused by people who call the United States of America "God's Country." I'm not sure we're the worst country on the chart, but I wouldn't call us God's Country. Not by a long shot."

Rock On, Your Eminence!

2007-05-02T00:22:00.001-04:00

"Archbishop Bagnasco... ...issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the proposal to give legal rights to unmarried couples, including homosexual couples, comparing such measures to also giving rights to other sexually radical behaviours such as incest and pedophilia. 'Why not say no to various forms of living together, to the creating of alternative forms of the family?,' asked the Archbishop. 'Why not say no to the incest of a brother and a sister who live together and have children in Great Britain? Why not say no to the party of pederasts in Holland?'"
Read the full article at LifeSiteNews.com.

Since making this statement (as mentioned in the article), Archbishop Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, has been the target of plenty of abuse: threatening graffiti was spray-painted on his cathedral, as well as other buildings; he received a picture of himself in the mail accompanied by a bullet; pornographic images of the Blessed Virgin Mary were left in pamphlets in his cathedral at the end of the Easter Vigil Mass.

But his Eminence is not alone - the Pope telephoned the Archbishop to urge him not to give in, and the Vatican Secretary of State sent a telegram signed in the name of the Pope urging him to "continue in his work for the common good, defending and promoting those human and religious values..."

In addition to this, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano wrote to the Vatican Secretary of State saying, "I wish to assure you that Italy will not leave Archbishop Bagnasco alone to face the present threats."

Let's hope not.

Better watch out, though, if President Napolitano gets too supportive, he could end up a "Homophobe," like a certain other President.

Let's hope so.

Somebody's got to make a stand, and it shure are hell ain't gonna be Spain, or Denmark, or Canada, or Belgium, or South Africa, or the US, or any number of other places.

Hot Fuzz

2007-04-26T23:48:00.001-04:00

I recently reviewed the film Hot Fuzz on a message forum I visit, and intead of writing a whole seperate review for my blog, I'm just re-posting the one from there... Here goes:

I first saw Shaun of the Dead about a year ago, and thought
(and still think) it was one of the best comedy's ever. Simon
Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright instantly went on my
favorite comedians list.

Hot Fuzz was even better. I went this afternoon with a few friends
(I went dressed up as Shaun from Shuan of the Dead... My
friends did NOT dress up, though they said they would, so I looked
rather silly), and had one of the best times I'd ever had at a movie.
Hot Fuzz had everything I was hoping for: explosions, quips about
other "serious" cop movies (i.e. Bad Boys II), explosions, crazy
villagers, explosions, and of course, explosions.

Actually, there really were not all that many explosions until the
end of the film. Hot Fuzz tells the tale of sergeant Nicolas Angel,
London's best cop and most important member of the force, who
is transferred because he is so good, he makes all the other cops
look useless, and they are afraid they might loose their jobs.

Angel (Pegg), is transferred to the quaint city of Sandford, the
"Best City in the Country." He quickly learns that his job is going
to be worse than he expected when he is paired with the police
chief's son (Frost), who he first meets coming out of a pub, drunk,
and trying to drive home.

A series of brutal "accidents" follow all over town, which Angel
suspects are murder. A shifty, violence-obsessed local supermarket
owner is his suspect, but the police force, none of whom have
ever done any "real" work, think he is crazy.

The entire town, esp. the police force, is filled with a fantastic array
of strange and kooky characters who add to the often oddball humour
of this wonderful flick.

Some of the murders themselves are violent, as they happen in
over-the-top, grisly ways. (Example: the pointy tip off a church
steeple falls on a man's head, smashing his head into his neck.
His body stumbles about for a second, then falls down and lands
with a spray of blood.)

The action scenes also, are extremely over-the-top, with tons of
guns, and as I believe I mentioned, explosions.

A great perk about this movie, is that though it parody's overdone
cop films that take themselves seriously, in it's own way, it is one,
and one that's even better than the "serious" ones.

9.6 stars - out of 10.

There you have it. In short, go see Hot Fuzz. More soon, I'm going to start blogging again, I've just been a bit busy over the past few weeks. This weekend I will be at a scouting camporee, but I may get a chance to post Sunday, otherwise, sometime next week.

Feminism v.s. Femi-nazi-isim

2007-03-21T14:54:00.001-04:00

I'm about to say something that, at first, might scare some of you. Ready? Here goes: Feminism is a good thing.

No, really - I'm serious. Feminism can be a good thing. That brings me to the title of this post: Feminism v.s. Femi-nazi-isim. Femi-nazi-isim is a bad thing, obviously, but what is it? In its essence, femi-nazi-isim is today's feminism.

Femi-nazi-isim is best expressed using a real-life example, such as, say, Linda Hirshman:

"NEW YORK, June 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Linda Hirshman, a feminist US writer on cultural issues, has told the world why she thinks staying at home with the children is an occupation 'not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings.' She complains at length that the feminist movement, while making some gains in public life through legal activism, has largely failed in the one area where it counts most: the family.

She upbraids women who stay at home for failing the feminist agenda, saying, 'They do not require a great intellect, they are not honored and they do not involve risks and the rewards that risk brings.'"

Read the full article...

Ann Coulter put it very well when she said, “Hirshman isn't just expressing an opinion about what she thinks is best, she is saying that any woman who makes a choice different from what she espouses is unequivocally ‘wrong.’”

That's femi-nazi-isim. It isn't about giving power to women - in a way, it's about forcing power upon them - like it or not.

If a women wants to be a stay at home mother, she must be anti-femi-nazi - a traitor to women everywhere. How horrible of her to stay at home and care for her family.

In an article in the National Post, author Caitlin Flanagan said: "If you love your work and you love your child and you decide to give your child less of you to go to work, you missed something big and important and so did your child."

Flanagan is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of To Hell with All That: Fearing and Loathing Our Inner Housewife.

In her book, she points out that: "When a mother works, something is lost."

Of course, if femi-nazi-isim was about helping women, staying home would be her choice - and good for her if she makes it. But it isn't about helping - it's about 'empowering', which in the strange language of the femi-nazi's means 'getting careers and ditching family life, no ifs, ands, or buts.'

So what is feminism - what is the "good thing" I said it can be? Well, let's look at Eva Herman - a leading German TV moderator and anchorwoman:

"BERLIN, Germany, March 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)...

Eva Herman published her account of the fatal flaws in a career-oriented lifestyle in a bestselling book entitled 'The Eva-Principle: Towards a New Femininity', released last year...

In The Eva-Principle, Herman tore open the issue of abortion as a violation of the woman, blaming pro-abortion laws for minimizing the trauma of abortion as nothing worse than going to the dentist.

Her book was founded on a rejection of the feminist goals of emancipation, career success and self-fulfillment, replacing them instead with the 'radical' goals of motherhood, home-maker and marriage-partner.

'Let's just say it loud,' Herman wrote. 'We women have overburdened ourselves -- we allowed ourselves to be too easily seduced by career opportunities.'"

Read the full article...

Eva Herman has, of course, outraged femi-nazis with her book (and it's sequel, Dear Eva Herman, a collection of responses from women who were relived to admit that professional success didn't make up for the loss of family life), which, as it's title says, leads towards a "New Feminity." That would be good feminism.

Feminism fights thing that hurt women, like pornography and prostitution. Doesn't the destruction of family hurt women too?

Femi-nazi-isim fights the family, and thus, in essence, fights women. Herman knows that. Flanagan knows that. Coulter knows that.

If only everyone else would figure it out.

Southern Rock & Simple Things

2007-03-09T21:50:00.001-05:00

As I sit here before my keyboard, ready to post about the dismal news articles that continue to make the headlines in our screwed up world, I suddenly realize that I am in rather good mood about things.

Dad's just come home from Connecticut, I've has a pretty darn good day at work, I've got a nice glass of tea next to me, I'm expecting a phone call this evening, and I've got some great Southern Rock playing in the background (Marshall Tucker, Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Allman Brothers).

To be honest, I'm sure I'll manage to become a dismal, depressed lump again soon, but until then, I'm good.

So now for the question of the day: how in Hell does Mahoney (or for that matter, many other people, such as "Father" Fred Bailey) continue to get away with the stuff he's pulling? Commenting on his latest bash myself is almost redundant, as you can find coverage of the the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress (also known as MahoneyFest and BaloneyFest) all over:

What "Religious Educators" REALLY Learn in L.A. - Catholic Cavemen
BaloneyFest 2007 - V! For Victory
More on Mahoney's RE Congress - The Cafeteria is Closed
Comming to L.A. Tomorow... - Christus Vincit
Another Festival of Dissent - RomanCatholicBlog.com
LifeSiteNews.com Coverage
(Thanks to Christus Vincit's post for three of the other links.)

So back to my question: why hasn't Mahoney been removed from his position. Heck, why hasn't he been excommunicated?

Great state of things we're in.

To end this post on a happier note, and a much sillier note, here is a little video on YouTube featuring one of my favorite musicians, Moby, in his REALLY early days - via Moby's journal, Schaumgummi.

Bloggers' Block

2007-02-22T22:11:00.001-05:00

It has been quite a while since my last post, a month to the day, and I'm both sorry and annoyed by that. I've been meaning to blog, I just haven't. I've jumped from being uninspired, to being inspired but without the time, to being too busy, to being too lazy, and so on. Anyway, here I am blogging again, and happy about it.

The weather around here has been completely off-the-wall lately. First it was a warm winter, then all of the sudden it froze for a bit, replete with deep snow and freezing rain, and now its warm again. Less than a week ago there was ice frozen to the trees, and yesterday I want to work (outside) in a sweatshirt and snowpants and was comfortably warm until about an hour after sunset, and even then a jacket over my sweatshirt sufficed. Emily has some great pictures of the freezing rain's effect on the area at the Hazel Page, so go check them out.

Tom Crusie and Katie Holmes' wedding is old news, but recently I came across an article about it that shocked me:

"Everyone expected Andrea Bocelli to serenade pal Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes on their wedding. However when he didn't, it left a lot of people wondering why. Now, the Opera superstar has revealed that Scientology was the reason why he skipped the couple's nuptials...

...'I was not present at the (Scientology) ceremony because I'm Catholic. I didn't think it was respectful for my religion to be there,' Contactmusic quoted Bocelli, as telling the US edition of OK! magazine."
Read the full article at DailyIndia.com.

Good for you Mr. Bocelli. There's something most Catholics can learn from you, other than just Opera.

I mean, really, how many Catholics today would skip a friend's wedding if the friend in question was not Catholic? Be completely honest: not many.

To wrap up this post, I'd like to link to a very short (two paragraph) post at Fidelity to the Word, entitled Human-hide wallets and cannibalized embryos. It's a bit morbid, but the point comes across clear, correct, and hard-hitting.

I'll be posting more regularly again, so expect another post sometime between now and Monday. I've a lot more to catch up on.

Journalistic Malpractice

2007-01-22T20:00:00.001-05:00

"NEW YORK, January 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The New York Times has once again published another 'hit piece' on the institution of marriage, alleging that for 'the first time more American women are living without a husband than with one'. However, US census data for 2005 shows that the January 16th front-page story in the New York Times is just another disturbing showcase of the Times’ tolerance for 'journalistic malpractice'."

There is an expression, which I'm sure you've heard, that says to 'take everything with a grain of salt'. In other words, don't just go believing everything you hear (or read, or see, or whatever). What's sad is not a lot of people do it. "The New York Times is a huge, reputable paper, so it couldn't lie to me, right?"

Recently I've started writing again, and I've just got the first part of my current project, The Wrong Turns, typed-up and online. You can check it out at: http://www.alternative-internet.com/reading/patrickjsimmons/2007/wrongturnsintro.php

I'm also writing a short story about one of my co-workers, Paul. It is barely started, as I'm working to finish the Wrong Turns before I get on it, but it's going to be in the general style of Styrofoam Dreams.

It feels good to be writing again, not that blogging doesn't count, but writing stories is a bit different. Because of school and working a lot, I've been half too busy and half just not interested in writing for a while, but I've got my spark back and am pretty happy about it.

To wrap up this post, I want to recommend a really nifty video over at Weebls Stuff called Patrick Moore. The animation is neat, but where it really shines is the music.

Anyway, I'll be back later this week with more, providing I find something interesting to post about.

Overdue Book, Sir?

2007-01-07T23:08:00.001-05:00

I have in my possesion a library book. I didn't check it out, and I'm not completely sure who did, but I have it. I probably should return it, but it's over 30 years overdue, and the overdue fees would be more than the book is worth, so I haven't.

I guess I'm just not as honest as Robert Nuranen, who just returned a book due on June 2nd, 1960, and paid all $171.32 of the overdue fees: "I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. "Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."

Read the full blurb at CNN news.

Robert, I take my hat off to you.

And now your local forecast...

2007-01-03T22:37:00.001-05:00

Depending on where you live, the you may or may not have warm, sunny summers and snowy winters. You could have warm winters or snowy summers, depending on your relative location to the equator, among other things. However, in the beautiful state Indiana, summers are generally warm and winters generally cold. By cold I mean, cold enough for snow. Snow is a good thing. Not only is it very pretty, but it allows for many winter activities, such as building snowmen, having snowball fights, sledding, skiing, and snow tubing.

This winter is my third working at Perfect North Slopes. I don't work in the skiing area (though I do ski); I work in the snow tubing area. (Snow tubing is like sledding, just in an inner tube - the tubes at Perfect's have hard, plastic bottoms and felt covers on top for added comfort and speed, as well as a smother ride.) Thing thing is, though, for skiing, or snow tubing, or even snow boarding, you generally need snow. Now Perfect's has a system to blow man-made snow onto the hills, but it still needs to be cold enough for the snow not to melt (in effect, blowing water onto the hills).

This winter, though, has been unseasonably warm. We've had afternoon's in the mid-50's (Fahrenheit, about 12 degrees Celsius). It is completely insane. Here is a current weather report for Lawrenceburg, Indiana, home of Perfect North:

Note: This is a constantly updating weather report, so it could be colder (and I hope it is) sooner. When I posted this, though, it was 43 degrees Fahrenheit (7 Celsius).

Fortunately, Perfect's seems to be holding on. Which means that I've worked 9-to-5 shifts three days last week, 9-to-4 shifts every day the week before and yesterday, and will hopefully work then tomorrow and Friday (today I was feeling sick), as well as a 4:30 to 1:00 night shift Saturday, provided the weather holds.

Now for the joke: at the Tubing Park there is a big clock that displays the current time and temperature. However, the attached thermometer has been getting some rather odd readings, as it is apparently not set up correctly. By 'odd' I mean 'slightly high'. By 'slightly' I mean 'very'. True, it is rather warm for this time of year, but 530 degrees Fahrenheit?

And now, the punch line: Maybe there really is global warming!

Now is an appropriate time to laugh.

Well, I know it was long and kind of pointless, but there it is, the state of my working life and the weather round' here. Until my next post, in which I will probably have something much more interesting to say, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Christian's & Saddam Hussein

2007-01-02T21:28:00.001-05:00

First off, happy new year!

Now for the juicy bits...

I've mentioned once or twice before that the removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was NOT really a 'good thing.' Not because Saddam was a great guy - he wasn't at all - but because he was better than many other options, such as the state we've managed to get Iraq in now. Saddam allowed Christians to practice their faith in Iraq, something not all Middle Eastern leaders allow them to do.

From the California Catholic Daily:
"Kamal Alsawaf, 52, a native of Mosul, Iraq, has lived in El Cajon since 1979. Although he is no fan of Saddam Hussein, Alsawaf says that Christians had a much easier life under Saddam’s regime and that of his predecessor, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. 'Under the Ba’th party, we weren’t truly free, because like the rest of the country, we knew we were being watched, but Christians had the freedom to practice their religion,' said Alsawaf. 'We’d mind our own business and nobody bothered us.'...
...Hussein’s fall ended any tolerance for Christians. Barka says that first they would be told that they had to shut down their businesses. 'Now their houses are threatened and told they have to move. You will find a letter at your door that says, "Leave your house and move from this area."'"

Now for some light hearted enjoyment - a book review: I've just finished reading Just One More Thing by Peter Falk. If you don't know who Peter Falk is, then you probably haven't seen Columbo. If you haven't seen Columbo (even if you do know who Peter Falk is), then you are deprived, because it is the best detective television show ever. Just One More Thing is a fantastic read, and is written in an unusual style - chapters are short, normally between one and four pages, and are composed of short little stories from Peter Falk's life, generally in no particular order. This makes for great before-bed reading, when you're too tired to read more than a few pages anyway. Its also perfect to read on 15-minute breaks at work. The stories themselves are side-splittingly funny, and I couldn't help buy laugh out loud at quite a few of them. Peter Falk's life is a blast to read about, not only in its humor, but in the immensely bizarre situations he has gotten in (how many times have you built railroads in Yugoslavia?). Peter Falk's style of writing perfectly fits the stories he tells (which can be expected, really, since they are his stories), and wraps it up as an amazing book. Definitely worth picking up, even if you don't know who Peter Falk is.

BoN - December 06'

2006-12-29T22:05:00.001-05:00

For this edition of Blogs of Note, I've got two great blogs that I find fantastic. First off is The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen. Traditional Catholics, and mostly conservative (the blog is VERY pro-war in Iraq, its only major downfall), the Lair is one of the funniest places on the web. Aside from offering posts of fantastic Catholic commentary in a very singular style (how many other Catholic blogs talk about beer and classic rock right next to Catholic issues; plus, these guys use some colourful language you won't hear on most other Catholic blogs, which makes for very unusual reading), the Lair itself is full of funny little side quips (such as their TTLB Ecosystem spinoff: "We are a Huge Pain in the Ass in the USCCB Ecosystem"). Recently, there are way too many Iraq-war propaganda posts for my liking, but I'm not ready to drop this blog completely over one disagreement.

Secondly is the StopBadware Blog, a part of StopBadware.org. Just about anyone who downloads just about anything off the internet should read the StopBadware blog, and search StopBadware.org's reports. By downloading software off the web and running it on test computers, StopBadware.org compiles reports on popular downloads and determines whether or not that are Badware (Badware being programs that contain ads, viruses, and the like). No one likes badware, and combating Badware is what StopBadware.org does, and they do it well.

Well, that's it for the moment. I'll post again within a few days (perhaps tomorrow) about certain other things, namely: Christmas, Working 9-to-5 shifts (and 4:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. shifts), Peter Falk's book, Nick Velvet (a series character by author Edward D. Hock), the Nintendo Wii, Monty Python, the war in Iraq and its standing amoung conservative Catholics, comic strips about dinosaurs, Egg Nog, situation comedies, and 560 degrees Fahrenheit.

Probably not all in one post.

Until then.

Beer, Pencils, Death, and more..

2006-12-13T21:54:00.001-05:00

What do a fat man, a kitty, and death have in common? Well, until I saw Death Kitty and the Fat Man, I thought nothing. Now I realize that together, these three things create a fantastic flash cartoon by animation Megat Diam posted on Weelbs-stuff.com.

So where do pencils fit in here? They don't, but they do fit in at designboom's page showing off the Faber-Castell 100th birthday exhibit, where you can see pictures of a table, chair, and lamp made from pencils, as well as an image of the worlds oldest surviving pencil.

As if anyone needed a reason: a study at the Catholic University of Campobasso in Italy has shown that men who drink four beers a day (and women who drink two glasses) live longer, says CathNews.com. Break out the homebrew!

Occasionally I read the Onion online, self-proclaimed as "America's Finest News Source." If you've never heard of it, the Onion is a news source that features satirical news stories instead of real news. Though I haven't read the full article, I got a kick out of a recent headline and the picture that accompanied the article: Egyptian Conservationists Fight to Protect Dwindling Mummy Population.

To wrap up my lineup of fun tidbits, I've got an image I made. A while ago I downloaded "America's Army," a computer game created by the U.S. Army to help gain new recruits. I don't plan on joining the army, but I had heard the game was fun, so I though I would try it.

Well, the game stinks. It makes you go through tons of idiotic training that is plenty usefully in the real world, but silly in a game. Plus, the training is so hard/boring, I never got through to the actual game. So, of course, I uninstalled it.

When I clicked the Uninstall button, however, I got a popup message that read: "Are you sure you want to remove America's Army from your computer?" Well, this message inspired me, so with a quick edit I came up with this:

So there you have it. To wrap up this post, I wanted to show off a video I uploaded to YouTube staring in little brother Andrew. Head over to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByjqgDsQLkk and check out Andrew's moves. If you don't at least chuckle, you aren't human.

"Holocaust Conference"?

2006-12-10T23:59:00.001-05:00

From the BBC News:
"Iran is hosting a two-day conference which is likely to question whether the Holocaust actually happened.
Organisers say the event will offer a chance to discuss "questions" about the Holocaust without restrictive taboos.
The conference has been condemned by Germany - where denying the Holocaust is illegal - and by Israel and the US.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who backs the conference, has publicly questioned the scale of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed.
Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the Holocaust, describing it as a myth used to justify the existence of Israel and oppression of the Palestinians. "

Let me start by saying that I do not deny the Holocaust. Yes - it happened. Yes - it was horrible. So about this conference: frankly, it is total garbage, pointless nonsense, and a waste of time. But it Iran wants to have it, that is fine with me. I could care less.

That's just it: why does anyone care? Note that it says in Germany denying the Holocaust is illegal. In Austria they sent historian David Irving to jail for three years for denying it. Three years in jail for saying something didn't happen. That's completely moronic!

Some people need to learn to let it pass by. So what if people deny it? Let em', it doesn't change anything. It happened, so their denying it should mean nothing, correct?

Of course, we can't have that. This very post is probably anti-Semitic and I should go straight to jail for writing it.

Looking at it from another perspective, it isn't fair either. If you deny the Holocaust, you go to jail, you get shunned, you are labled anti-Semitic and evil. You cannot say anything to hurt the Jews.

But what about Catholics? If one denies that Christ existed, one does not go to jail. More likely, one gets a TV special. If one claims that Catholics were not persecuted in Rome, or during the French Revolution, nothing happens. More likely, one gets a book deal.

The blame for this situation is spread far and wide. But Catholics cannot not refuse to take our share. In today's world, a Catholic is probably more likely to defend the Holocaust then to preserve their own faith. Now what matters is appeasing other religions, instead of preserving one's own.

Iran holds a Holocaust conference, and countries condemn it.

If someone holds a Roman Persecution conference, would they condemn it?

More importantly: would any Catholics be present, to defend the truth?

Would you?

Net Neutrality

2006-12-05T22:14:00.001-05:00

Scroll down for a moment - there is a big yellow image in the left side column. (If you're using a text-only browser or a screen reader, then just know its there - Lynx users, I salute you). The button reads, for those of you who cannot be bothered to look: "Save the Internet - Don't let Congress gut the Internet's First Amendment. CLICK HERE TO PRESERVE NET NEUTRALITY". Now to explain why I put this rather large advertisement in my blog.

Net Neutrality is a big issue right now (esp. in America, but internationally as well), but most of the general public doesn't know what it is, or how it effects them. As a matter of fact, a lot of the people who are making the legal decisions about it are oblivious about it as well.

To illustrate what net neutrality is, let us say that AT&T runs your internet service. Furthermore, let us say that AT&T has a partnership with Yahoo. Now, obviously, it is in AT&T's best interests that you use Yahoo instead of another site, say Google, right?

Well, net neutrality means that though they may want you to go to Yahoo instead of Google, there isn't anything they can really do about it, because all websites are to be treated neutrally.

But let's say there is no net neutrality... One day you pop on your computer and connect, through AT&T, to the web. First thing you head over to Google to do a search - but Google won't load! Instead you get a message saying that Google has been blocked by your internet provider, AT&T. Now what? Well, you end up using Yahoo instead, whether or not you want to. (I should note that, to the extent of my knowledge, AT&T does NOT have a partnership with Yahoo - I just though of Yahoo first.)

That's a pretty big problem, right? Think about it, big companies could block any website they want, and force you to go to their sites instead. Want to get your news from LifeSiteNews or WorldNetDaily? Too bad! AT&T says you're using FOX News instead! Feel like reading Fidelity to the Word? Natta! No small time bloggers, religious or otherwise, allowed! AT&T would rather you stick with the reporters they employ. After all, you never know what bloggers may say...

Obviously, net neutrality is important - not just for internet addicts and bloggers, but for the general public. Whether you use the internet every day or once a year - if net neutrality goes, who knows what will follow.

Bush Does Something Right

2006-11-20T11:01:00.001-05:00

From LifeSiteNews.com:

"President George W. Bush has appointed a physician with close ties to the pro-life movement to supervise federal family-planning programs.

The President has named Dr. Eric Keroack to be the assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In that post he will supervise the disbursement of $283 million in annual federal grants to family-planning programs."

I've been saying for a while that George Bush is a horrible president, and is too occupied with the Iraq war to do anything to stop abortion, and that he isn't going to change.

Well, it looks like I might be wrong. This is defiantly a step in the right direction (though there is still a lot more that needs to be done); I applaud the president for taking it, and pray he keeps going.

For once, I wouldn't mind being wrong.

In other news, according to CNNMoney.com the U.S. mint is going to put out another 1$ coin. In fact, several of them:

"The Mint on Monday revealed the design of the new U.S. $1 coin, which will be issued in a series that will eventually include the faces of each U.S. president.

It will release four new presidential dollars each year, starting with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 2007. The Van Buren dollar will be released in 2008 and the Fillmore in 2010.

Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, will appear on the coin in 2016."

Nixon on a coin? Awesome. I'll be making sure I get my hands on one of those.

No, I'm serious.

But who cares about me, what about everyone else in the U.S.? That's quite a move for the mint, considering the it didn't work so good when the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea 1 dollar coins we released.

At the very least, it will be interesting to see how it pans out - and to collect the new coins.

DIY Optical Illusion

2006-11-18T17:28:00.001-05:00

This is pretty nifty: stare at the black dot in the center of the image below for 20-30 seconds, then, without moving your eyes off the black dot, move your mouse over the image. You should now see a normal looking -full-colour photograph. If you move your eyes, the photo will turn grayscale. Try it.

Neat, huh? Believe it or not, I made it myself, without any extra software or anything. John Sadowski has this nifty tutorial which explains all the steps for creating an image like this in Photoshop (link via LifeHacker). If you're like me, and don't have Photoshop, then you can accomplish the same effect with PaintDotNet, which is free, with two small changes:

1. Skip step 4.
2. After inverting the colours in step 5, go to Layers --> Adjustments --> Hue/Saturation and set the Saturation to 200 (all the way up).

Or, if you don't have PaintDotNet or Photoshop (or any other compatible editor), or are just plain lazy, you can go to myopticalillusion.com (also via LifeHacker), and just upload your image and let the site do everything for you. They also have a gallery with quite a few illusions made by others that you can check out, so if you like these eye-hurting image things, go check them out!

If you make one of your own, leave me a comment with a link to it!

Whose Boots Should the Hangman Earn?

2006-11-13T21:13:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, November 5th, former dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang for "crimes against humanity."

That's probably not new news to you, so I won't dwell on details, and instead will jump to my point: Saddam Hussein isn't the person they should be hanging. I'm not necessarily saying that anyone should be going to the gallows, but I am saying that if someone is going to be hung, he shouldn't be the first choice.

Saddam's was convicted of the killings of 1982 killings of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail. 148 people.

Wow, that's pretty bad, huh? You might even say it's a 'crime against humanity'.

But what if there was someone responsible for the killings of millions of people?

Try Gloria Feldt, former president of Planned Parenthood, or Cecile Richards, the current president.

How about lawyers Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who were behind the infamous Roe v.s. Wade trial that opened the doors for the the millions of abortions now committed in the United States?

Maybe even good ol' George Bush. After all, he's run the USA for almost 6 years now, and done next to nothing to stop these killings. (Sure, he signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, but that's not really enough, as babies are still being killed, just in a different way.)

It may not be direct support, but tons of people are responsible for neglecting to do anything about it.

Planned Parenthood & American Leaders
Millions upon millions dead.

Saddam Hussein
148 dead.

Who do you think should be at the gallows?

Good News for IE Users

2006-11-13T16:47:00.000-05:00

Recently Blogger Beta began allowing FTP blogs (i.e. blogs not hosted on blogspot.com) to switch to beta. Of course, I jumped at the chance and upgraded. The good news: I'm beta now. Not quite sure why I care yet, but I'm sure there is a reason. The bad news: I couldn't use the new blog layout system, because it only works on blogspot.com blogs. More good news: I've decided I don't care, because I like playing with the HTML code myself better. Even more good news: inspired by my sudden realization that I like hard-coding, I went in to my template and made a few nice changes!

1. The three column layout now works correctly in Internet Explorer. Of course, it still works in other browsers as well.
2. I've centered the copyright notice at the bottom, which makes it look nicer.
3. I've got an account set up with SiteMeter, to pair with my registration in the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem. Hopefully this means that soon the spot that says "I'm a ___ in the TTLB Ecosystem" will have that blank filled in.

All of that was done today, though over the past few days I've make a couple of other additions as well, as some of you have noticed:

1. I've started using my registration with Technorati and gotten a "Search This Blog" box and "Blogs that link here" button added to the right hand column. Hopefully these will be found useful.
2. I've added a "Search Catholic Blogs" box to the left hand column, from CatholicBlogs.com. It allows one to search over 800+ Catholic blogs, witch I find rather handy.
3. I've added a poll to the top of the left-hand column, which I'll change every now and then, because I wanted to have a poll. Nuff' said there.

A few people have asked me why I haven't been blogging for a little over a week now, and the answer is simple: I've been busy. School work, my job, and several other things have been keeping me away. However, I'm wrapping up a few things now, so I should be back on track again soon.

One of my projects I'm working on right now, one that's been taking up almost all of my computer time, is The Greatest Book Ever. No, really, that's the title. The newest branch of DDS/AI Media, the corporate name for the company that runs Alternative-Internet.com and The File Project Studios (DDS/AI is not a big company, just 5 staff members) is now open.

Behold: The Red Parrot Publishing Company.

Nice name, huh?

This first book (which will actually be self-published Lulu.com), The Greatest Book Ever, is to be a collection of all the best stories from Alternative-Internet.com from the years 2004-2006. This includes a few stories by me (including some of the entries from The Journal of Albert Skimberd), as well as stories from Quezon (including his Adventures of Barg series), Michael Little, Grant Herring, and Emily Alexander. If all goes well, the book should be done and availible to purchase by Thanksgiving. At least, that's the goal.

Anyway, I'll be posting again soon, hopefully getting something in tonight or tomorrow, so until then, may all your Thursday's be Perpetual.

"The baby is alive! NO!"

2006-11-03T23:50:00.000-05:00

I listen to quite a bit of ambient techno-style music - in particular stuff by Moby. Moby did a song called "That's when I reach for my revolver," and I find that the title relates rather nicely the point I want to make. There is a point at which one needs to reach for one's revolver, and this is a prime example:

"18-year old Sycloria Williams, told police that she had arrived at the facility July 20 for the second half of a late-term abortion. She says she gave birth to a living baby girl while sitting in a recliner in the facility’s recovery room. Ms. Williams told police that she had watched her daughter moving and gasping for air for approximately five minutes...

...the staff 'began screaming that the baby was alive.' Then, 'Ms. Belkis Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord, threw it into a red bag with black printing. Ms. Gonzalez then swept the baby, with her hands, into the same red bag along with the gauze used during the procedure.'

Eight days later, police found the body of the child... ... (it) had been treated with a caustic chemical and left in the heat of the Florida sun to accelerate decomposition in a possible attempt to dispose of the evidence."

Read the full article at LifeSiteNews.com...

The police have a search warrant and are conducting an investigation and the co-owners of the facility, Belkis Gonzalez and Siomara Senise may be charged with second-degree murder.

Frankly, I hope they both get 'a quick drop and a short stop.'

Some people don't believe that abortion is violent, that 'clinics' are slaughterhouses, that abortion KILLS PEOPLE. Then something like this comes a long, and maybe one or two people will come around - but maybe they won't.

People like Bilkis Gonzalez and Siomara Senise, people who will willingly kill innocent babies, shouldn't be allowed to walk the street. Lets stop and think - the baby is in her mother, one minute later it comes out. In that minute we are expected to believe that something happens that makes it ok to kill the baby before it comes out, but not after? That's a load of it.

She's a baby in her mother, she's a baby when she comes out, and vice-versa. Either you say killing the baby is wrong, which it is, or you say that killing it is ok not only inside its mother, but once its out too. Sure, its sounds sick, but that's logical, right?

And while we're at it, why should it matter when she grows up? She's still a human, just a bigger one, right? So it should be legal to kill her off whenever we feel like it, right?

There is no 'in-between,' its either murder, or its not.

And It is.

People like Bilkis Gonzalez and Siomare Senise don't need an investigation, or a trial, or anything of the sort. They've been helping along the killing of innocent babies, people, and they will continue to do so. They need to be taken out back and shot.

That's when I reach for my revolver.

BoN - October 2006

2006-10-31T18:01:00.000-05:00

Well, here rolls the last day of October, so its about time I get out my October Blogs of Note (BoN). I'll kick it off with methodshop.com, a tech/gadget blog that I've been reading for a while now. Sure, there are plenty of tech/gadget blogs to go around, but I'd rather fond of methodshop because of the smart-aleck attitude, sense of humor, and the fact that they only tend to post when they've got something really interesting. If you like gadgets, you'll get a kick out of methodshop. Plus, they've got tons of useful little tutorials on things such as 'downloading videos off of YouTube.'

Second blog in my list is Fidelity to the Word. Being a skimmer rather often, I don't always read the full posts in this blog, but when I do, I'm glad I took the time. A wonderful Traditional Catholic blog, Fidelity to the Word has commentary on Catholic issues, notes on feast days, prayers, and other similar content. Fidelity to the Word is an all-around worth reading Catholic blog.

Another Catholic blog worth a read is the Cornell Society for a Good Time. Named after "a childhood group of St. John Bosco," the Cornell Society featured Catholic news and commentary mixed in with humor and bits of 'just-for-fun' stuff. The delightful commentary (Try: "I attended the sappy, irreverent, obnoxiously feel-good Novus Mass up the street this morning, and it started a train of thought that might in a perverse way be called hopeful.") of the Cornell Society is a blast to read, making for a fun blog all-round'.

The final blog I'd like to make note of is Tasha's Journal. Since I've started blogging, I've had several friends and family members start blogging themselves, such as Grant, Emily, Quezon, and my Mother. 'Tasha' is the latest in the list - my Aunt Nancy. Though she's only posted twice, she's posted, so I wanted to mention her blog.

Those are my blogs for October, and that'll plenty of reading for you to deal with already, right? In other words - this post if done, and I'll have more later. Until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual...

Monty Python's Spamalot

2006-10-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to blog for quite a bit now, and haven't really gotten around to it, so here I am with a review of what, in my opinion, was the funniest show ever made - Monty Python's Spamalot. If you haven't seen it, go see it now. If you have to skip eating or now buy that new plasma-screen TV to get tickets, then do so, because its worth it. I laughed, I laughed again, I laughed some more, and then I laughed so hard I almost cried. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be: "Hilarious." If I got a whole sentence, it would be: "Side-splittingly funny, politically incorrect, irreverent, and absolutely wonderful." But this is my blog, so I can talk about it for a little more than one sentence.

The show isn't completely a rip of the movie, as plenty has been added/removed. Tons more music, dances, and fun. Of course it does have plenty scenes from the movie, such as the French Taunting and the Killer Rabbit, but it also has new scenes such a the appearance of the Lady of the Lake. Plus, many scenes have been changed, such as Camelot and the Knights of Ni, and, well, just about everything. But even if you aren't a Python fan, you'll love it - its just got that appeal. There are, of course, certain Python references non-fans will miss (suspenders and a bra), but for the most part, it'll be loved be all. The dancing, music, and special effects are top notch too. Overall, its a real blast. Even the Playbill was funny.

To sum it up, it was awesome, and you should go. Quick warning - kiddies under 13 probably shouldn't attend, as there is quite a bit of language.

The humor didn't end with the show, either. As we were waiting outside to get our car out of the parking garage, a red Jeep with the roof off came sailing down the street playing music with four people in the back wearing masks, at least one a Richard Nixon mask, waving at everyone on the street. Plus, a truck outside the theater sold SPAM. Wow. Fun.

As a note to wrap this post up, I've made some rather obvious and large changes to Perpetual Thursday's layout. Instead of two columns, there are now three. The upside of this, is that neither is as long now, so there is less scrolling, and I can add little stuff to the sidebars, such as the poll you'll find in the left sidebar. The downside is that the new layout does not work in Internet Explorer. So, IE users, either vote that I change my layout; wait until blogger beta is no longer beta so I can use their three column layout, which does run in IE; or you can switch browsers. If I were you, I'd switch, but I'm not, so I'll leave it up to you. So go vote.

I'll post again soon with a slightly belated October Blogs on Note and some other things, until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual...

Wikipedia Vandals

2006-10-18T16:08:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, the Wikipedia is an online, community-editied encyclopedia. Being community-edited, it is occasionaly vandalized by certian members of its community. Hence this post - this afternoon, about 20 minutes before I got to posting this, I went to look up something on the band Coldplay in the Wikipedia, and what do you know? That page was strangly missing all of its information on the band. Its back to normal now, but I snagged a screenshot of the vandalized page before it got set back, so here it is:

That's all I had. I just thought I'd throw it up here for kicks. I'll have a real post later today/this-week.

Still think it's peaceful?

2006-10-17T17:11:00.000-04:00

From Arabic news site Aljazeera.net (English version):

"The relatives of a Christian priest who was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq have said that his Muslim captors had demanded his church condemn the pope's recent comments about Islam and pay a US$350,000 ransom...

...Iskender's relatives, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the unidentified group that seized Iskender on Sunday had demanded a ransom and that his church condemn a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI last month."

So it goes. What really get me, though, are the thousands of comments on news sites, blogs, message boards, and so on, saying that Islam 'isn't really violent,' and that's its only 'those extremist factions.'

It certainly seems violent to me: a priest beheaded, a nun shot, churches burned, and no real sign of it stopping. If this keeps up, we'll be calling for a new Crusade. Frankly, we about need it now.

In a lighter bit of news, here's a band that deserves notice, even if you don't care for their musical style: ClipBandits. Currently consisting of 3 members, ClipBandits play exclusively on the popular video sharing site YouTube. Its members have never met in person, live in three separate cities, and don't even know each others real names - only their YouTube IDs. So how do they play? Well, two of them, J-Pe$0 and Bass Player Girl, record their parts and upload them to YouTube, then the third member, ClipBandit (or just Clip), plays their clips on two screens while he plays with the clips, and records the whole thing, creating the final product. They aren't quite my style, but their sound isn't bad, and their technique is definitely cool. They're worth checking out if you've got the time. (Thanks to MethodShop.com.)

That's all I've got for now - I'll be posting my Monthly BON this week-ish if I get the change, so watch for it. Until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Singing Magnets!

2006-10-09T21:05:00.000-04:00

On Sunday we had a family outing to Metamora for their 38th annual Canal Days, which are, in essence, a big flea market covering the entire town. There was tons of your usual flea market junk, as well asd an assortment of non-junk items. Amoung the non-junk items were singing magnets, something I'd seen in a catalouge before selling for $8.99, here selling for $3 a set. After hearing them go once, I was sold, and picked up a pair. Here's a photograph:

Nifty, aren't they? But what, you ask, do they do? Well, they sing. You seperate them in your hand, toss them into the air, and the come together with a delightful buzzing sound that reminds one of an insect. I've recorded the sound for your listening pleasure, so just click the play button to hear it (if you see a little circle, it just hasn't loaded yet, and if you see nothing, you need Flash):

Neat, isn't it? I'm really proud of it. It's the new offical Perpetual Thursday sound play... oh. We were talking about the magnet sound it was playing, weren't we? Well, that's neat too! One thing I've noticed, though, is that everyone seems to want to get their hands on these magnets. Then again, I can't blame them.

While you've got that little mention of Flash in your mind - have you seen the Monthly Lesson with Quezon yet? If you haven't, you should. Its not only our first real Flash movie, but its pretty funny, and somewhat educational.

More on the Moors

2006-09-26T17:20:00.000-04:00

(For those of you who don't know: by Moors, I mean Muslims.) Once upon a time, not very long ago at all, the current Pope made some completely true but rather un-PC comments about Muslims. (Check out my rather un-aptly named post Drugs, Alcohol, and Shopping for more info.) Among these comments was a reference to Mohammed's command to "spread by the sword" the Islamic faith.

The Muslims went nuts. The burned churched, threatened the Pope and all Catholics (and Christians), and killed a nun. That's right, Muslim activists SHOT and KILLED a nun in cold blood.

Its worth noting that (sadly) the Pope came out and apologized for his comments, saying there were not "his opinions" and could be easily "misinterpreted." Its too bad he apologized, really, because a) everything he said was true, and b) his apology hasn't been well excepted. The violence, protests, and mayhem continue.

Of course, not everyone is ready to administer blame where blame is due, with comments such as " (Islam) IS a peace loving religion. And Muslims doesn't equal to Middle East. They do not represent the billions of Muslims at other parts of the world," (comment from the Daily Mail) showing up all over. However, comments like these seem to be on shaky ground right now, as Muslim leaders don't seem to have come out against the violence. As a matter of fact, many of them seem to be its biggest supporters. For example, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a leader of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (a coalition of six Islamic parties), came out with this delightful comment: "If I get hold of the pope, I will hang him."

Now, I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds a hell of a lot like "spread by the sword" (ok, more like 'spread by the rope,' but you get it). Makes you wonder is Islam is really as 'peace-loving' as they claim to be. Somehow, I think not.

Another interesting note, pertaining to the same subject, is this ad, which appeared in the Washington Times, according to Spero News:

That's only the top part of the ad, which was paid for by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation. The full ad is fairly large and, among other things, lists several quotes from Muslim leaders and groups, calling for the Pope's death. Its rather well done.

As a last note, I don't want to miss out on Rosie O'Donnell's little quote on ABC's "The View" last week: “Just a minute. Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state.” You can read a little more about this in FrontPage Magazine, but before you do, let me say that I don't agree with the entire article, as its very pro-war in Iraq (actually, I don't agree with a lot of FrontPage's stuff, for the same reason).

P.S. I Almost forgot! MLQ3, if you're reading this, let me explain about Quezon... First off, I'd like to clarify something that made by entire family laugh upon hearing it: Quezon isn't my son. He's my younger brother. (I suppose I haven't been very clear on the point, so I'm making sure that's straight now. At the moment I don't have any children, nor am I even married.)

Now on to the name... Unfortunately, the story isn't as interesting as it could be. Actually, his name isn't really Quezon. His full name (including conformation name) is: Christopher Joseph Francis Xavier Simmons. (Wordy, huh?) The reason Everyone calls him Quezon is a rather short, unexciting story, centering around cooking and television. Chris is a HUGE fan of the Japanese cooking show (shown dubbed in English on Food Network), the Iron Chef. The show, in essence, is a cooking competition between master chefs using special ingredients. During the cooking "battles," which last for one hour, commentators talk about the dishes, the ingredients, and the chefs. The head commentators name sounds very much like Quezon. So, because Chris watched the show so often, one day we started calling him Quezon, as a joke. And so the name stuck.

Not as interesting as it could be, but that's the true story. Hope I haven't disappointed you too much.

BoN - September 06'

2006-09-23T21:06:00.000-04:00

Hey, gentle reader! This is the first of a hopefully monthly feature of PT - Blogs on Note (BoN). Here I'll showcase blogs I've been reading recently, not reading but thinking about reading, skimming every now and then, or whatever! I've got three rather good blogs this month, so buckle up!

First off I'll introduce a blog that I hold very dear to my heart, my mom's blog containing a series of stories about my littlest brother, Thomas (who we all call Toby): Toby's Travels.

Toby's Travels is a collection of short stories detailing the immensely silly and never-carried-out plans of Toby and his siblings, most from Michael's point of view. They're pretty funny (and very cute), and worth a read.

Secondly is a blog run by the first person to comment on PT who I didn't know personally: Manuel L. Quezon III. From the Philippines, he comments on everything from politics, to religion, to life, to just plain fun. His posts tend to be pretty long and very detailed, so he isn't often light reading. But for those of us who enjoy strong opinions, news, and political commentary, he's a fantastic read.

Third is a blog I stumbled across fairly recently, indexed. As said in the blog, the title is "vaguely self-explanatory." All posts in indexed take the form of a drawing on an index card. These are often graphs, like the one shown above. Some are funny, some are thoughtful, and many are both. indexed is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs.

To Grant, Emily, and Quezon (Chris, not Manuel) - I didn't mention you two because I already do so pretty often. To those I mentioned - congrats, you are better then everyone else. To those I didn't - there is always next month. To everyone, period, blogger and non - my ego and I are off to take a break, but we'll be back, and until then, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Russell Crowe - Shirtless!

2006-09-18T00:25:00.000-04:00

Guess what? This post title is EXACTLY what it sounds like!

This is mostly an in-joke, but everyone who knows Emily should get a kick out of it, and others might get a laugh too. As it says in the image, I'm sorry for this Emily, but I couldn't help it.

Ok, I'm kind-of sorry.

Drugs, Alcohol, and Shopping

2006-09-16T20:27:00.000-04:00

I've got plenty to rant about today, but fear not: I've got a bit of fun to offset my news! Let's kick it all off the the news that's everywhere. No, really, it seems every news source has at least some note on this one: the Pope's comments! Now there is quite a lot of blabber floating out there for those of you who really want to read it up, but for those of you who haven't already heard the story, and don't want to look it up, I'll give a quick summary: the Pope gave a delightful speech at the University of Regensburg, Germany, during which he quoted a dialogue between Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and 'an educated Persian' on the subject of Christianity and Islam. His quotes from the emperor included: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

There were other anti-Muslim (esp. anti-jihad, or 'holy war') quotes as well, and none said without reason. The Pope's speech was a good one, (you can read the whole thing at Zenit.org) and was worst a read. Sadly, I'm not posting this because the Pope made good speech (lots of people make good speeches), I'm posting it because his speech has caused some problems. These problems take the form of massive throngs of Muslims calling for an apology. By, apology, of course, I mean that they wanted Pope Benedict's head on a platter, on fire, and with a spear shoved trough it. After the speech crowds of Muslims began gathering bearing signs with happy saying such as "Butcher Those Who Mock Islam." (Link is to kreuz.net, a German Catholic site, translated to English with Google.com.)

Of chouse, the Vatican backtracked almost instantly. (Link is to a CNN press statement from the Vatican.) That, in my opinion, is the sad part of this story. Why backtrack? What the Pope said was completely true. I'm not surprised at all, but I am disappointed by all this 'We're so sorry' nonsence. Sorry for what? For saying that Mohammed's teachings were "evil and inhuman?" (Heck, the pope didn't even say it first himself, he quoted it!) So what? Its TRUE, isn't it? This is where the Church seems to be at today, though. No more brave Crusades, only meek ecumenism.' Any outspoken truths are instantly apologized for. "We're so sorry someone stated what Catholics should (and once did) belive, we won't do it again. We love everybody, really, we do!"

I have a (possibly-vain) half-hope still in me that the Pope will retract the Vatican-issued apology, but I doubt it will happen, which is sad. We need someone to speak the truth - and we don't need anyone to apologize for it.

(As an off-to-the-side note, the Vatican apology didn't seem to 'cover it' for all the Moors. While some were appeased, other weren't, with situations such as arson attacks on five Churches in West Jordan and the Gaza Strip. You can read more about that on kreuz.net)

Ok, now for a fun thing to break it up: Ben Hur Live! Its true: Frenchman Robert Hossein is putting on the show "with a cast of hundreds recreating a battle at sea, a gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome and a live chariot race in the 17,940 square yard (15,000 square meter) arena." (CNN.com) The live version will take place in a football stadium in Paris, France, though plans are underway to take it abroad. I personally, hope it works out - I'd go see it in a heartbeat! Its an amazing undertaking, as though of you who have seen the film or read the novel will know - esp. the chariot race, which will be a 14-minute long part of the stage show, complete with Messala falling from his chariot and being drug through the dirt. Oh, and yes, they are using real horses.

Now for more news - the news this posts title is referring to: Sunday Shopping. Now, in today's godless culture, most people don't see any problem with heading to the mall on a Sunday afternoon. As a matter of fact, its a pretty normal occurrence. Really, how bad could a little shopping on Sunday be?

Bad, say Jonathan Gruber (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Daniel M. Hungerman (University of Notre Dame) in their report titled: The Church vs. the Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition? (From the University of Notre Dame website, the final official document, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, can be purchased at their website for 5$.)

So, what does happen? Well, in places where laws against Sunday shopping had existed, but were eliminated, church attendance went down to 32%, from about 37% when laws were in place. In addition, Marijuana use increased by 11% among church goers, cocaine use by almost 4%, an alcohol consumption by around 5.5% - and the more faithful people were beforehand, the more likely they were to fall.

Wow. Makes you think, doesn't it. Maybe going to Church, on Sunday, is important... Maybe next time you think: "Well, the sale ends today, so I'll head to the mall after Church." You'll remember that it may quickly turn into: "Well, the sale is only on Sunday, so I'll go to Church on Saturday instead of Sunday to get the deals," and sooner then you think into "I'll skip Church, I've got to shop/watch football/sleep in/ect..."

For those of you wish it, you can read coverage of the report at LifeSiteNews.com and washingtonpost.com.

And to rap it up, one more fun thing! (Yay.) I'm like computer games. I do. I know, I'm bad, but there it is. Now normally I enjoy two general types of games: Games that require thought or strategy (like war situation, such as Age of Empires, and puzzle games, such as Myst) and games I can play online against real people (such as WarRock). True, I occasionally enjoy a stupid blow-something-up game to relive stress, but I'm speaking generally. Every once in a while, though, I find a short little skill game that really catches me. Recently, I found Gentleman. I have many reasons to love this game, among theme: great graphics, original idea, smooth gameplay, nice music and sound, and the ability to use German or English (menus and such, the actual game requires no reading). Plus, its free and make with one of my favorite game creation tools, GameMaker.

In Gentleman, you are a gentleman (la duh, to quote Lissa). Your job? Help old ladies across the street. The problem? They walk slowly and if a raindrop hits them they get knocked out. True, most real old ladies aren't so... fragile. But these are. This game has some great quirks, such as ladies with dogs and bags and suitcases, plus multiple sizes of umbrella for you to earn. Its a wonderful quick break for those times when you've been performing some repetitive or lengthy task on the computer... Such as writing this long post. So on that note, I go to play. Until next time, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

The Worst Web Site Ever?

2006-09-15T23:47:00.000-04:00

I love really lousy, badly designed, cheesy, gimmicky, ugly, slow, bulky, ect, websites. Ok, not really, but I do get a kick out of a poorly-designed or annoying webpage now and again. To fulfill these sporadic urges for horrible web design (probably fueled a a desire to see sites worse than my own), I tend to drop by Worst of the Web. At Worst of the Web, three web designers, Buzz, Melvin, and Chip, give their not-so-humble opinions on websites they find or people submit. As of yet, Alternative Internet hasn't made the list (nor has PT), but I've submitted it. A note for those who decide to visit them: despite the big yellow sticker, they are NOT updated daily.

Worst of the Web is fun, but today I got something even fun-er in by inbox: PC World's 25 Worst Web Sites. Boo-yah! Though I sadly didn't find AI in that list either, I still got a blast from it. Especially when I found two Microsoft-owned sites in the countdown. If you have five minutes to blow, its worth a look. The worst site ever was a perfect choice, in my opinion. If nothing else, at least go look at it.

Oh, and look at www.hampsterdance.com, my new favorite site of all time. Not.

Autostitch

2006-09-08T00:52:00.000-04:00

Back by popular request, its something other then news!

I've found one of the most fun photography tools of all time: AutoStitch! If you haven't heard of it, or have but haven't tried it, go get it (its free) and try it now!

AutoStitch generates panoramic photos from sets of photos imported into it. For example: I took 36 photographs of our backyard, and imported them all into AutoStitch, and it generated a 180 degree panorama of our backyard!

Pretty nifty, huh? Aside from being free, AutoStitch is immensely easy to use and required absolutely no work (except taking the photos). Its currently being used by several companies, including Industrial Light & Magic (a Lucasfilm company). Its worth checking out. I can't wait for our next vacation - I would love to try this out on the mountains or the ocean.

Well, that's all for the moment, so until next time, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Ebay & Homeschoolers

2006-08-28T21:00:00.000-04:00

Recently Ebay, the huge online auction site, has made a change in thier policy that is upsetting homeschoolers everywhere; and, strange as it sounds, I'm inclined to side with Ebay on this one. The new policy can be seen at Ebay's site, but I'll quote the important part here:

"Teacher’s editions of textbooks and solutions manuals that are intended solely for use by teachers are not permitted by eBay."

Homeschoolers are, as I said, annoyed by this, as evidenced by articles on WorldNetDaily and Lifesitenews:

"'Where do they get off telling me that I don't have the right to buy, sell, or own a teacher's manual??? How could I teach my children without it???' another blogger asked."

I'll start off my reason for siding with Ebay in the form of an answer to that blogger: They "get off" telling you that beacuse its THEIR website and thus THEIR call. They didn't say you can't buy them at all, just not on Ebay. Just as a shopowner has a right NOT to sell contraceptives (a right pro-life groups constantly fight for), Ebay has a right NOT to sell Teachers Manuals.

I can see where they're comming from. After all, they don't know who you are. You really could be a student looking for answer books. I'm not saying their policy is a needed one - after all, if you're really going to try to get the Manual, you're going to get it Ebay or not. But I can see where they're comming from, and, once again, its completely THIER call, beacuse its THEIR website.

Again, I'm not saying that you shouldn't request that Ebay change the policy, but I am saying that you shouldn't outrage against them for it.

That's all for the moment, so until next time, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Oh, yeah - I changed the link highlight colour to match the new post title colour. Yay!

Guess it's time for Plan B...

2006-08-24T23:07:00.000-04:00

(Hey notice the post titles? I made them blue! Nifty, huh?)

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A "morning-after" contraceptive can be sold to adults in the United States without a prescription, health officials ruled on Thursday, ending a three-year fight over wider access and use by teenagers.

The Food and Drug Administration said Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Plan B pills must stay behind pharmacy counters to prevent girls under 18 from getting the drug without a doctor's order."

...and there you have it. The FDA has caved. The good news, if you could call it that, is that the pill must still be kept behind counters so girls under 18 cannot get the pill without a doctors order.

Obviously, pro-abortion groups and Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the company that makes Plan B) are not happy about that, and want more.

"Women's groups said wider access could reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions....

...'There's no scientific or medical reason' for the age limit, said Amy Allina, program director for the National Women's Health Network.

Barr plans studies to back non-prescription use by a broader age group, said company spokeswoman Carol Cox."

However, pro-life groups such as the Christian Medical Association disagree with Allina and Barr, as reported by Lifesitenews.com:

"Both the Christian Medical Association, an association of 17,000 doctors, and Concerned Women for America (CWA) have criticized the FDA’s absurd rationale in distributing Plan B without medical supervision, which requires medical oversight for lower doses of progestin (the hormone in birth control pills) in order to protect women from serious health complications such as blood clots and stroke."

Another interesting bit of the Lifesitenews.com article states:

"CWA president Wendy Wright also criticized the FDA’s rules which make keeping Plan-B out of the hands of minors seem just as effective as preventing minors from receiving cigarettes.

'Any adult male who is having sex with a minor could walk into a pharmacy, buy the drug, and coax the girl into taking the pill,' said Concerned Women for America’s Wendy Wright. 'Parents have the right to know their daughter’s medical needs and to support them in the process. The FDA’s irresponsible action today takes those rights out of a parent’s hands and gives them to ill-intentioned perpetrators.'"

Now for the kicker, in the form of a previous little bit of news from Lifesitenews.com:

"At a White House press conference this morning, the President was asked by Bill Sammon a reporter from the Washington Examiner about Plan B and his new FDA commissioner (Andrew von Eschenbach) who supports its over the counter status. "Mr. President, some pro-life groups are worried that your choice of FDA Commissioner will approve over the counter sales of Plan B, a pill that, they say, essentially can cause early-term abortions," said the reporter. "Do you stand by this choice, and how do you feel about Plan B in general?"

The President replied, "I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy's decision."

Gotta love that! Makes you wonder, really, if Kerry would have been worse? After all, these are the kind of things we would expect from him, and we're apparently getting them anyway. (Plus, things haven't exactly gone uphill in Iraq, but back on topic...)

Here another fun part - Bush, in his usual mode, tried to get off the subject ASAP: right after saying he supported "Andy's" decision he said: "Thanks for letting me come by the new digs here. They may be a little too fancy for you."

Ahhh, change the subject. Smooth, Bushy-boy, smooth. If you're really interested, you can read the entire press conference at the WhiteHouse.gov website.

And here's the really sad thing: some pro-lifers will continue to think Bush is a wonderful president. And nothing, nothing is going to change their minds.

(Boy, that was dismal.)

A Birthday for Blogger

2006-08-23T15:26:00.001-04:00

Yes, the post title is meant to sound like a children's books title. I like it. Anywho, as you may know, today marks Blogger's 7th birthday, and I though that I, being a Blogger user, might as well make note of it. You've probably noticed the big white dog with a birthday hat next to this post. The dog has currently replaced the B in Blogger's logo to celebrate their birthday (7 human years = 1 dog year). Now I'm not sure about anyone else, but I think it looks a little like an iPod ad. That's why I couldn't help making my own version of it.

I know, I know. Its really stupid and somewhat poorly executed, but as I said, I couldn't help it.

In other notes for today: if you've been to PT before you'll probably notice the changes to the design and sidebar layout. The box around the logo and the subtitle are both gone. The standard Blogger profile has been replaced with an "About Perpetual Thursday" section and a shorter profile of myself. Lastly, the "Previous Posts" section has been moved above the "Links" section, because I want you to stay and read my junk before going off and reading someone else's.

To wrap up this post, I'd like to wish Blogger one more "Happy Birthday" with the Camp Maumee Happy Birthday Song (which I've probably got wrong):

Happy birthday, oh, happy birthday,
Death, destruction, and despair,
People dying everywhere,
Happy birthday, oh, happy birthday.
One step closer to the grave,
Think of all the food you'll save,
Happy birthday, oh, happy birthday.

Animal Welfare/Human Hatred

2006-08-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

From LifeSiteNews.com:
"LANCASTER, England, August 21, 2006 – A pack of animal rights activists brazenly assaulted anglers in the latest incident of an increasingly brutal campaign waged by animal rights activists across the United Kingdom.

According to the Telegraph, a small number of families and anglers were fishing at the Bank House fly fishery at Caton near Lancaster, when a pack of 35 masked animal rights activists armed with stones and bats viciously set upon them...

...A spokesman for Countryside Alliance said, 'It does seem to be the way animal rights extremists are heading. Their issue is not animal welfare - it is about hating people. They simply want to cause trouble.'"

One thing worth noting appears near the end of the article: "Lancashire police revealed that the animal rights extremists moved to attack the fishermen after having failed to disrupt a grouse shoot earlier in the day."
Yup, we're afraid of people with guns, but we would be happy to torture people holding sticks. Pity nobody fishing had a filet knife...

Its worth reading the whole article to hear the details of the attack, but I wanted to give you an idea and note that quote: "It is about hating people."

I wouldn't argue. Animal Rights activists are causing more than their fair share or problems, and not just in England - the NPR (National Public Radio) has a report on their website (its in audio format) about animal rights activists in Los Angles. "Radical animal activists and their enviormentalest counterparts are the top domestic terrorist priority."

Looks like you should start to carry a gun when you're hunting.

Oh, wait...

"Alleviate the Situation"

2006-08-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

Jeff Kelly is my hero. There is a very good chance you have no idea whatsoever who I'm talking about, so let me remedy that...

In the Thursday, August 10th, 2006 issue of the Dearborn County Register, a local paper, on page 6A, the Forum for Opinion, a section titled Look Who's Talking posed the following question: "What can or should be done to alleviate the situation in the Middle East?" Following were answers from five diffrent people. One of these people, was Jeff Kelly. His responce to the question, appearing first of the five, right over a picture of his smiling face, read: "Nuke them all until they glow." That was it. No more, no less.

I wonder if he would be willing to run for president?

Windows Live Writer

2006-08-16T16:13:00.000-04:00

While I was browsing Download.com, I came across Windows Live Writer (Beta). Naturally curious as to how well it works, I downloaded it to check it out. That brings be to where I am right now - sitting in front of the computer, keeping an eye on Toby, and posting with Writer. Now, I'll be the first to say that I'm not much of a Microsoft fan (I use Windows because I've been using it since 3.1 and am quite used to it - plus, all my games run on it), but Writer is, so far, an exception. It was very easy to set up and, if you're reading this, worked perfectly. But the best part of it is its editing display. Instead of just giving you a white box to type your post in, Writer downloads information about your blog and formats your post so you see it as it will look in your blog. The colours & fonts are exactly as they will look. This I like.

Another nice feature is it's built in spellcheck. I'm very fond of that because my spelling can be pretty bad at times. Inserting pictures is easy, and you can even pick the border you want for your image. Either a drop-shadow, photopaper-style, or your blogs default.

Even cooler: aside from seeing it formatted as it will look in your blog, you can also view a regular, unformatted layout, view your HTML, or view a preview of your post in your blog (complete with other posts, sidebar, and whatever). Another nifty feature is the ability to save drafts either to your blog or on your own computer.

You can, of course, set up multiple blogs with writer, and switch between them with ease. As a matter of fact, the whole program is first-rate. I hate to admit it, but I think Microsoft's done a bang-up job. I'll defiantly be using this for my posts from now on.

P.S. Opps... Image uploading doesn't seem to work for my blog, however, linking to another image on the web works fine and Writer can set up FTP for images.

'Bible & Blood' Advert

2006-08-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Take a good long look at this advertisement. I couldn't come across a full-size version, but according to both the totalcatholic.com (from The Universe Catholic Newspaper) and BBC articles some of that tiny print reads: "In the last 12 months, the GPA (Gay Police Association) has recorded a 74 per cent increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator." Even without the quote, you can easily see the the advert is anti-Christian. But the ad may not just slide by: Scotland Yard has opened an investigation of the ad as it may constitute a faith crime. The inquiry was promped by a complaint by "a member of the public." According to the BBC, the GPA has members in all 52 UK police forces. The BBC also mentions that a GPA spokesman refused to comment on the matter until the investigation has been completed.

No kidding? Come to think of it, I don't think I'd comment either. No sence digging a deeper hole than you already have. I think my favorite bit of the whole incedent is this little bit from the totalcatholic.com article: "In Scotland, a member of the Holyrood parliament tabled a motion condemning the Gay Police Association for publishing a 'Christianophobic advertisement' in a national newspaper. " Christianophobic? There's a big word for you. Try saying it five times fast. If a nice change of pace to see some force against gays insulting Christians, instead of the usual other way around.

I think, though, its important to note that this is not in the United States of America. Try passing this past the ACLU.

Frosties

2006-08-13T21:49:00.000-04:00

This may just be the funniest thing ever...

But first watch this Frosties ad (Frosted Flakes, so some of you):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4270458065644031389&q=frosties+ad

Now watch this little bit from Weebls Stuff:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/frosty/

That was the funniest thing I've seen in weeks.

Jesuit Monumet to Puke

2006-08-12T11:06:00.000-04:00

Pardon... My bad, the title should be 'Jesuit Monument to Peace.' Then again, maybe I got it right. That's right: the Society of Jesus has been at it again! This time they bring us some of the great Spirit of Ecumenism that we've all come to love with their monument celebrating 12 religions working together for peace. Behold...

Oh yes, its exactly what it looks like. The momument is located on Grotto Mountain in Canada, right next to the alter where the celebrate Mass. If you ask me, that's wrong. I mean, shouldn't the celebrate something other than Mass? We need services for ever religion on there! Let's be fair right?

Seriously, though, it seems that just when things can't get any worse - they do. There's not a whole lot to comment on, beacuse the pictures say it all themselves. For more pictures and comments, check out the original article on Free Republic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1661914/posts

Thanks to Novus Ordo Watch for bringing the article to my attention.

In happier news: Snakes is comming out this week! Am I going to see it? Probably not. Am I excited anyway? YES! It's called Snakes on a Plane! It's gotta be exciting! Even if its a lousy movie, its going to be a hit. In honor of this cultural phenomenon, I've added a countdown to the release date in my sidebar - check it out. If you don't know anything about snakes, click it. Or check out this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_on_a_Plane

That's all I have for the moment (I've got a birthday to get to), so until next time, may all your Thursday's be Perpetual.

Lady in the Water

2006-08-06T00:11:00.000-04:00

Ok, now its been in theaters for a little while now, and we all know how theaters work, so we know it probably won't be there too much longer: my point? GO SEE LADY IN THE WATER RIGHT NOW. You can come back and read my review later, or, better yet, see Lady in the Water again later and skip my review all together. Ok, I'll admit to being an M. Night Shyamalan fan, but regardless of that, Lady in the Water was classic.

The movie starts with a story about the relationship between the people of the water and mankind. The story is illustrated by simple drawings. After the story ends, we are taken to the apartment complex where the rest of the film takes place. One by one we're introduced to the many strange people living in the complex (if they weren't strange, it wouldn't be interesting, would it?) starting with the manager, Cleveland Heep, brilliantly played by Paul Giamatti. The main plotline starts up pretty quickly afterwards with Heep going out to the pool to investigate a splash he heard. That's when he first see's Story (played fantastacly by The Village's Bryce Dallas Howard), the Lady of the title. Story is a narf, a water nymph, who must be seen by a certian person so as to inspire that person to do something great or important. Unfortunatly, neither Story nor Heep know anything about this person, execpt that he or she is a writer. To make matters worse there is an evil wolf-like creature set out to kill Story so she cannot complete her mission.

The acting is first-rate, the plotline is amazing - overall, Lady in the Water is one of the best movies I've ever seen, and certianly the best one this year. A true classic.

Oh, and M. Night Shyamalan has a pretty big part in this film, so you get to see his talents as an actor as well as a writer/director.

Lord of the Stem Cells

2006-07-18T15:31:00.000-04:00

Pardon my language here, but I can find no better words to convey my feeling about the matter. Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (the folks whom many of us praised for brining Lord of the Rings to the silver screen) are a couple of complete asses.

From the pro-life news site LifeSiteNews.com:
" WELLINGTON, New Zealand, July 17, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Profits from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy are being used to fund destructive human embryonic research at the University of California, reported the Mainichi Daily News.

Filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, who brought the J.R.R. Tolkien epic to the screen, together donated US $310,000 last Saturday to fund research using the stem cells of human embryos."

Read the full article here...

What makes this all the worse is that so many people were pushing Lord of the Rings, glorifing Jackson for bringing a cherished story to the theaters. As fans many of us bought the movies, the extended editions, merchendice, tickets to see it in theaters, tickets to the muesem exibit. Some people went as far as to go on special vacations to go see the filming locations. (There are even people, myself included until now, who were enganges in writing letters to Jackson and New Line in an attempt to get him to film "The Hobbit.")

Now we have this. Certianly, it was one thing when McKellen used the film to boost his campaign for homosexual marrige, but this is another thing entierly. These aren't a couple of actors with agendas, these are the producers, putting some of thier profits from the film to the horrible use of killing innocent babies to use for 'research'.

I was going to be on the lookout for the Lord of the Rings Limited Edition DVDs... Now I can't say I'll be paying any attention.

God Bless America!

2006-07-17T16:30:00.000-04:00

You know, the United States of America is truly the greatest nation on Earth. After all, our nation not only give hundreds of amazing benifits to its citizens, but imposes... err... gives these benifits to other countries as well! Just look at how much good we're doing for Iraq! Giving them the democrocy they so despratly wanted. Of course, we don't just help them, we help everyone we can! Check out what we're doing to help folks off in the Philippines:

"United States Funding Sterilizations of Philippine Women
By Gudrun Schultz

PHILIPPINES, July 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – United States tax dollars are funding sterilization programs in the Philippines, reported Focus on the Family’s Family News in Focus today.

Citing a US government report, the news source said USAID funds are contributing to the work of International Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are committed to establishing population control programs in the Catholic nation...

...In the declassified 1974 document, National Security Study Memorandum 200, the US listed the Philippines among nations to be targeted with radical population control measures, to be imposed through the United Nations aid programmes."

Read the full article here... Don't you love the USA? 'Let's sterilize all those Catholic nations! Limit the buggers population and kill em' off!'

Yup, a great country we've got here, a REALLY great country...

"Like butter on a bald monkey..."

2006-07-16T14:50:00.000-04:00

I am a happy little... something... witty... yes... well... Anyway, I'm happy. Why, you ask? Rhapsody (Real's music service). I've used Rhapsody for a while, and with the execption of a few problems with their selection (nothing good by Led Zepplin) I've loved them. But now, I love them even more. They've released the complete collection of VeggieTales music!

Now I can listen to Silly Songs and Polish Christmas music to my hearts content!

I couldn't be happier.

Well, maybe... But not a lot happier.

iPod + Lightning = Bad Day

2006-07-12T11:24:00.000-04:00

MethodShop: Teen's iPod Struck by Lightning: "It was just two weeks ago that the British Medical Journal warned of the dangers of using a cell phone during a thunderstorm. The doctors said having such devices near your head when hit by lightning can result in even more severe injuries... Maybe they should add iPods to that list.

On July 6th, a Colorado (USA) teenager named Jason Bunch was mowing the lawn and listening to his iPod. The next thing he knew he was lying in bed bleeding from his ears and vomiting. Believe it or not, Jason's iPod was struck by lightning."

Ok, so its not really that funny. I do feel sorry for him (read the full article, it has a picture of him post-strike); I mean it. I just couldn't help but snicker at an iPod being struck by lightning. (Espically while playing Metallica.)

Camp Maumee

2006-07-10T22:26:00.000-04:00

Saturday I got back from a week of scout camp, but not just any old week of scout camp - the best week of scout camp I've ever had. Last year I took SCUBA and COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Experience), and though both were unforgettable experiences I would do again in a heartbeat, and probably two of the best things I've ever done, this year was overall the best camp ever.

This year Troop 646 went to Maumee (last year was Friedlander, we alternative Maumee/other campe/Maumee/other camp/ect.). We go there often enough, but this time was diffrent. This year we did things. Some of the troop still lounged in hamocks at times, and we had a few rough spots, but looking past them, it was the greatest camping trip I've been on.

I took five badges, and got all of them: Small Boat Sailing, Wilderness Survival, Camping, Basketry, and Space Exploration. For ever badge I had my brother Chris, Kyle (from our troop), and at least two other members of our troop with me. As a troop we took over sevral classes. Small Boat Sailing was an absolute blast. You wouldn't belive how fast those little one/two person boats can get with just a little mind. Hunter, our counselor, Kirk (from the troop), and myself went sailing for a few hours one afternoon. Fantasic way to spend a day!

For Space Ex. and Basketry we had Brandon as our counselor. Now, Basketry itself isn't a very fun badge, but when you've got an instructor who takes us bugging him well and a few people to bug him with, you've got a recipie for disaster. A lot of jokes, a little basket making, and a badge our of it. Space Ex. was ever better. Part of the badge requires you to set off a rocket. My rocket was painted lime green with a purple stripe, which, in retrospect, was a bad choice on my part. On it's second flight (it got REALLY high), my rocket, the 'H.P. Lovecraft', landed in a weed-feild (which was once a cornfeild). It was never found. Gus had worse luck - his exploded. He managed to repair it enough for launch, but it was a lot shorter then it started out. Quezon's rocket, a mimic of the 'Deathmobile' from Animal House in name and colour, had a first sucessful launch, but on the second lauch the parachute deployed wrong and part of the rocket fell off and was not found.

For both Wilderness Survival and Camping our instructor was Zack. We annoyed Zack a little. Quezon decided to make Zack fodder for his jokes of the week - ever time he saw Zack he (and eventually most of his class from our troop) would jump up and yell "Hi, Zack," Quezon would even throw in, "I love you Zack!" Wilderness Survival was one of the best badges I've ever taken. Part of the badges requirements has you build a shelter out of leaves, logs, twigs, and so forth - and sleep in it for one night. Kyle, Kirk, and myself built a three person shelter - together we worked on it for two hours, and I came our with Dalton's help to work on it for an extra hour. It was beautiful. Spacious, not uncofortable, and dry (it didn't rain, but I would have trusted our shelter if it had). It was good enough that the staff left it up to use as their staff shelter. Quezon's shelter was also very good, and was said to be the best one built. The only thing was, only he or someone equally thin and under six feet tall could sleep in it.

Camping wasn't bad, but other than some odd experiences with Zack and a lot of refrences to the 'Crystal Meth' in my water bottle (long story) it didn't have much exictment.

The final campfire was the best I've ever been to. Our troop did two skits and Michael (little brother) and myself each had a song. Plus, I got to be a master of ceromonies (along with two other scouts)! I brought a huge bag of props, which turned out to be pretty helpful. I wore a set of cat ears and two tiger tails for almost the entire campfire, and beacuse we coudln't help it, we sang the meow mix song. Sevral other people also said it was the best campfire they've ever seen.

Overall, I've never had a better campout, and I hope we go back to Maumee next year. Sadly, next year will be my final camp, and I wouldn't want to spend it anywhere else.

To all the staff at Maumee, especially Hunter, Brandon, Zack, to the crew of the Enterprise (ever you, Little Ben, who was so reluctent to join), to Jim, for putting up with us for two troop shoots, to Nancy, for not stopping the Lumberjack Song, to my fellow M.C.s, to all the scouts who were at Maumee the week of the fourth, to Adam, sorry we never got to go sailing, and even to the kitchen staff - cheers!

The Poultry Song
By Patrick J. Simmons
(To the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree")

REFRAIN:
Oh, poultry, oh, poultry,
Why do you taste so nasty?
Oh, poultry, oh, poultry,
Why do you taste so nasty?

Your inside is, uncooked and pink,
While outside is, burnt black as ink.

Refrain.

Your tater friends, are really raw,
I don't think I, shall eat at all.

Refrain.

Your meat it is, not hard to chew,
But flavor makes, me want to spew.

Refrain.

END.

Magic-Eye Image

2006-07-09T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ohhh... Ahhh...

You know those "Magic-eye" images that you're supposed to stare at in weird ways until your eyes fall out or you see a hidden picture (whichever comes first)? I can never get them to work, but that didn't stop me from taking a look when I recently stumbled upon a tool that makes them.

You can see my finished image (and a link to the tool) at:
http://two.flash-gear.com/stereo/stereo.php?c=v&id=123160&k=13754215

Prayers for the Doman Family

2006-07-09T16:53:00.000-04:00

Regina Doman, author of Black as Night and The Shadow of the Bear (two very good books), recently posted some horrible news in her online notepad. A good friend of mine (Emily) brought it to my attention, and I would like to note it here.

Yesterday, July 8th, 2006, Mrs. Doman's four-year old son Joshua Michael died in a tragic car accident in their church parcking lot.

Weather or not you read Mrs. Doman's books, please pray for her and her family.

-Patrick Simmons

Day-Dream-Weaver

2006-06-22T15:34:00.000-04:00

I am a happy person. Just a few short days ago I recived a copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver. For those of you who don't know, Dreamweaver is a web design tool... Strike that, Dreamweaver is the web design tool. Of course, anything is an upgrade from Netscape Composer 7.1, but I'm very happy with Dreamweaver and firmly belive it was the right choice.

One of my favorite features is the convienent layout and interface. The sidebar is really great; I love the ability to edit CCS without leaving the design view or scrolling around in code view. Having all the properties for everything right at the bottom is also really handy, as I don't have to deal with all those annoying little windows.

As shown in my screenshot, I'm redesigning Alternative Internet with Dreamweaver, bringing up another feature I love: the ability to check cross-browser compatibility and validate the HTML right from the wrokspace. So not only will AI look a whole lot better, but it won't have any more HTML errors and will work better in IE (instead of just in Firefox, though why you would use anything other than Firefox I don't know).

I've begun to scare myself: I'm listening to progressive rock. I know, its scary. I'm not listening to all of it, just a particualr band: I Monster. (The link is to their myspace profile, beacuse you can listen to two of my favorite songs there). I learned about them from Shaun of the Dead (a comedy about zombies), for which one of their songs, "The Blue Wrath," was used. I looked for their music for quite a bit with little sucess, until I found their myspace profile. Now I'm a bit of a fan. My favorite songs I've hears are "The Blue Wrath," "Daydream in Blue," and "Heaven." They are worth a look no matter your musical tastes, everyone will love "The Blue Wrath," its just fun.

Extending Firefox Part 1

2006-06-18T21:15:00.000-04:00

I use Firefox. If you don't know what Firefox is, you need to find out, right now. If you know, but don't use it yet, then you need to get it.

If you do know, and do use it, than this post applies to you. As you're very likely aware, Firefox allows extensions. As you're also probably aware, there are a lot of extensions out there. Huge discussions and even whole blogs exist just to talk about which extensions are the best ones.

I have a few (*cough* 44+ *cough*)extensions, and I thought I might as well share which ones I use and enjoy the most. The list isn't in any real order, but they are all worth getting, in my opinion, so just download all of them. *wink*

Beacuse I've got so many, I plan to do this over the course of two posts.

First off, there is ColorZilla. ColorZilla is an eyedropper/page-zoomer tool that allows you to zoom in on web pages and to use an eyedropper (such as found in popular image editing programs) to select a color right out of a webpage and get both its hex code and RGB code for your use. Being into both web design and image editing, I love ColorZilla, as I can pull colors I see on the web right up for use in my own images and web pages.

Following in line comes MeasureIt, which, as its name suggests, enables you to use a ruler tool to measure the width and height of anywhere in your browser in pixles. Again, handy for web design.

Then there is one of my favorites: IE Tab. This handy extension displays a page as it would appear in Internet Explorer, in a special tab, so you never have to leave Firefox. This is good not only for web design, but for viewing all those pesky pages that don't work correctly in Firefox.

For internet shoppers there is BetterShopper, the most cash-saving extension I've seen. BetterShopper alters Amazon.com's product pages to include links to the product on international Amazon.com sites, as well as other similar shopping sites (Amazon UK, US, DE, and FR, Bole.de, Buch.de, Half.com, Abebooks UK, US, DE, and FR, and Thalia.de). It also converts currencies (US$, CDN$, EUR, GBP and JPY) for your shopping convienence.

I use FTP, and for a wile I used FileZilla, which is a great program. However, I switched when I found FireFTP, a full featured FTP tool that runs right in a FireFox tab. It couldn't get any more convienient than that, and it works like a charm.

I like to keep up with what is going on in the world. In other words, I read RSS and Atom Feeds. For a while I did this via FeedReader, which is an awsome program. But as with FileZilla, I found something I liked even more: Sage. Sage is by far by most used FireFox extension. I use it almost daily to read my newsfeeds. It works beautifully, and ants interface is fantastic - clean and easy. Having my newsfeeds in a sidebar is probably my favorite part, but there isn't a thing I dislike about Sage.

Another one of my favorite extensions, and one which I use just as much (if not more) than Sage, only, without realizing it, is Adblock Plus. Whereas Firefox blocks all pop-ups, Adblcok takes it futher and blocks just about everything else. From images to frames to flash, Adblock does it all.
However, Adblock alone doesn't quite cut it, beacuse Adblock blocks ads from sources you specify in its filterset. Thus, you have Filterset.G and the Filterset.G Updater. Filterset.G is a set of filters for Adblock designed to block most of the ads on the internet, and it does. the updater makes sure you always have the latest version ready to go in Adblock, so you are worry and advertisement free.

If you use eBay, or any other site you reload frequently, ReloadEvery is a fantastic extension. ReloadEvery ads a drop down menu to your reload button that lets you set a page to reload every 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 minutes, or whatever, using either a pre-set time or a custom one.

If you need to know your IP address, then Live IP Address is great. It allows you to see your IP address in the statusbar, which is rather convienient.

For people who use Google a lot, CustomizeGoogle is a blast. It removes ads, adds links to other search, weather, news, product, and so on sites, adds Wayback machine links, adds bookmark links, and more, and its all customizible, so you only use the features you want.

The last one for this post is Download Statusbar. Download Statusbar is an awsome extension, expecially for people who download a lot of extensions. It creates an extra statusbar (at the bottom of your browser, right above the regular statusbar) when you're downloading, and shows all your downloads and their progress there, instead of in the usual download window. This is espically handy when downloading lots of images, which I am prone to do.

That's all for this post, so until the next one...

Will you marry me?

2006-06-16T23:11:00.000-04:00

I just couldn't help this one, it was too funny. I'd reccomend reading the whole article.

CNN.com - Naked beau flushed from the bushes - Jun 15, 2006: "ANN ARBOR, Michigan (AP) -- A man who ran naked through his neighborhood to persuade his girlfriend to marry him got more than he bargained for when he was chased and shot at, police said."

Read full story...

Alouette!

2006-06-14T21:39:00.000-04:00

Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai
Je te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête, et la tête
Alouette, Alouette
O-o-o-o-oh
Alouette, gentille Alouette
Alouette je te plumerai

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of doing something I had not previously done. Wow, that was a lousy sentence, but no matter. I spent last Saturday morning help process chickens. My job was removing them from the scalder, tossing them into the plucker, and then pulling out any left other feathers, chopping off their feet, cutting their oil glands out, and slicing them open so the next person could gut them.

Before we began processing I was asked sevral times if I was going to be alright. I'm not squeamish, and I didn't think I gave off the impression that I was. I can't see how people have a problem with it, as they are just chickens, and it is just a little blood. Alright, Mr. Garvey (those of you who use the Alternative Internet Forums might know he is swordskilled's father) had more than a little blood at his station. He was the one who lopped off their heads. Mr. Trimble (his chickens, farm, ect.) had a set of inverted cones into which the chickens were placed, upside down, their heads came out the bottom, and with a quick knife swoop, off they came. The blood drained down the cones and into a bucket (all the blood, guts, and so on were composted).

Mr. Garvey had a very strange habit of talking to the chickens as he took them from their cages to the 'killing cones.'
"Come on ladies, calm down, I'm just gonna kill you."
"Alright ladies, time to party!"

In further news, my mother has started a blog written from the perspective of my little brother Michael, about the adventures of another brother Thomas (his nickname is Toby). The events are described just slightly diffrent from the way they actually took place, but they stories are still great and worth a read. Check out Toby's Travels.

Solar Trash Can

2006-06-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

These images are of a solar-powered trash-compactor. I didn't even realize such a thing existed until I saw it. As partially indicated by the sticker on the can, it is located at the Krohn Conservatory, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our family (execpt dad) went to their annual butteryfly show there, and on the way out I noticed the "Big Belly" can, and still having my camera out, took a few quick photos of it. I'm sure these things are probably everywhere, but I still got a kick out of it.

Here are a couple of articles I found on the Big Belly:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/03/almost_big_bell_1.php
http://www.barrypopik.com/article/622/big-belly-trash-compactor

And here is the company that makes it:
http://www.seahorsepower.com/products.html

A Mortal Sin: A Short Play

2006-05-29T21:50:00.000-04:00

A couple of articles prompted me to write this short play, and I'll give links to and quotes from them after the script:
--
A MORTAL SIN
By Patrick J. Simmons

Scene: Father Fredrick Fenderbender in the confessional hearing the confessions of Dr. David Drunkard.
DOCTOR DAVID DRUNKARD (D): ...and after I broke the door down Mr. Morrison - well I guess he heard me or something, but he came running with a baseball bat in his hands so I pulled out my gun and shot him. Them I short him again, and again, and again. Then his little son, Sammy, came in and I shot him. I heard Mrs. Morrison in the kitchen and I went in and shot her once, but she didn't die, and I was out of ammo, so I grabbed a knife and stabbed her over and over.
FATHER FREDFRICK FENDERBENDER (F): Alright. What else?
D: I robbed a bank and killed everyone there.
F: Mmmmmhmmmm.... Anything else?
D: Well Father, its hard...
F: Son, I am your priest, no one heard but myself and God.
D: Father, I couldn't help it... I knew it was wrong but... Well... (voice lowers to a low whisper) I knelt in church.
F: (GASPS) David, do you realize what you've done.
D: Yes Father, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
F: I certianly hope so. I'll give you absolution, but if you kneel again, you're going straight to hell.
END
--
Two articles inspired this, both about the same priest. Father Martin Tran says kneeling is a mortal sin. No joke. One of the articles, from the L.A. Times, says:
--
...Kneeling "is clearly rebellion, grave disobedience and mortal sin," Father Martin Tran, pastor at St. Mary's by the Sea, told his flock in a recent church bulletin. The Diocese of Orange backs Tran's anti-kneeling edict.

Though told by the pastor and the archdiocese to stand during certain parts of the liturgy, a third of the congregation still gets on its knees every Sunday.

"Kneeling is an act of adoration," said Judith M. Clark, 68, one of at least 55 parishioners who have received letters from church leaders urging them to get off their knees or quit St. Mary's and the Diocese of Orange. "You almost automatically kneel because you're so used to it. Now the priest says we should stand, but we all just ignore him."

The debate is being played out in at least a dozen parishes nationwide...
--
The other article is from the Catholic World News, and is mainly a commentary on the L.A. Times article.

Half of me wants to laugh, half of me wants to sign, frown, and shake my head, and half of me wants to laugh even harder. And yes, that is three halves.

I may have more to say on this later depending on read responces here and notes on it by other people.

Until then, Perpetual Thursdays to you...

(Thanks to Novus Ordo Watch and the New Oxford Review for the links to the stories.)

Elementary, My Dear Watson

2006-05-24T00:08:00.000-04:00

Wow. This one feels like its straight out of the pages of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:

Pensioners 'killed tramps for $2m' - World - Times Online: "Pensioners 'killed tramps for $2m'
By Chris Ayres
Two old women are accused of running down homeless men after insuring their lives
TWO elderly Los Angeles women have been arrested on suspicion of killing two homeless men after taking out life insurance policies on them.

In a crime worthy of a Raymond Chandler novel, the two collected more than $2.2 million (£1.2 million) in insurance payouts after the killings."

I couldn't help but share that one.

MidnightBox.com

2006-05-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

I'm a deal hunter. I know, I'm bad, but it is true. As such, I like check a few deal-a-day sites every day to look for, well, deals. One of these sites is MidnightBox.com. Every night at Midnight they release a new product, but what makes them special is that they don't say exactly what it is. Instead, they release clues about the product until they either eventually reveal it, or someone guesses what it is. Whoever guesses it gets Midnight Points, which you can redeem for free stuff from the Midnight Mall. (You can also get Midnight Points for other things, for example: you get points for buying something, and the sooner you buy it the more points you get. You also get points for referring people to their site.) I've chosen this moment to mention them beacuse it is their 1st birthday today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIDNIGHT BOX!

"...out the window."

2006-05-22T23:52:00.000-04:00

Snopes.com has an urban legend on file that has quite intrugied me; partly beacuse it is funny, and partly beacuse I've heard it before. Execpt, when I herd it, it was a joke, not an urban legend. Fair warning: I don't have a problem with it, but there is a mildly rude word used it it, so you may want to skip the next section:
--
An American soldier, serving in World War II, had just returned from several weeks of intense action on the German front lines. He had finally been granted R&R and was on a train bound for London. The train was very crowded, so the soldier walked the length of the train, looking for an empty seat.

The only unoccupied seat was directly adjacent to a well dressed middle aged lady and was being used by her little dog. The war weary soldier asked, "Please, ma'am, may I sit in that seat?"

The English woman looked down her nose at the soldier, sniffed and said, "You Americans. You are such a rude class of people. Can't you see my Little Fifi is using that seat?"

The soldier walked away, determined to find a place to rest, but after another trip down to the end of the train, found himself again facing the woman with the dog.

Again he asked, "Please, lady. May I sit there? I'm very tired."

The English woman wrinkled her nose and snorted, "You Americans! Not only are you rude, you are also arrogant. Imagine!"

The soldier didn't say anything else; he leaned over, picked up the little dog, tossed it out the window of the train and sat down in the empty seat.

The woman shrieked and railed, and demanded that someone defend her and chastise the soldier.

An English gentleman sitting across the aisle spoke up, "You know, sir, you Americans do seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You eat holding the fork in the wrong hand. You drive your autos on the wrong side of the road.

"And now, Sir, you've thrown the wrong bitch out the window."
--

For those of you who want it, the Snopes article on it is at:
http://www.snopes.com/critters/mishaps/wrongdog.asp

Now, I'd like to make note of the following article from the Times: Modonna crosses the line but antics fail to shock. A quote from the article, containing the important part, for those of you who would rather not go read it (though it is short):

"MADONNA’S world tour began in typically provocative fashion when the pop singer hung from a cross, shouted an obscenity at an image of President Bush, showed video footage that seemed to compare Tony Blair to Adolf Hitler, and writhed around on a device that combined a horse’s saddle with a stripper’s pole.

"As if that were not enough, the singer also wore a crown of thorns, dressed up as various male icons — James Brown and John Travolta included — and even briefly played the electric guitar. Early reviews of the event on Sunday night were positive, but the show failed to produce the reaction so beloved by Madonna: shock."

Before I go on, let be note that I'm mainly refering to her mocking of Christ, and as a side to her dressing up as a male and "writhing on a strippers pole." I really don't care that she compared Blair to Hitler, and though I don't like obscenities, I don't care what she calls Bush either.

Now, I am fairly sure that the reaction to this will probably fall into one of four basic categories:
1) You're shocked by both her and by the fact that people are not shocked.
2) You're shocked by her but not by people not being shocked.
3) You're shocked by people not being shocked, but you're not shocked by her.
4) You're not shocked by any of it.

I'll admit it flat out: I'm not shocked in the slightest. I do think it is wrong. I do think people should be horrified by it (which I am). But am I shocked? Not at all.

Some people seem to have an unlimited capacity to blaspheme and commit evil. Modanna has led a rather foul carrer. At this point, she probably couldn't shock me with anything short of suddenly giving all her money to the poor and repenting. As for the reaction of the hio poli, it suprises me just a little. First off, the people at a Madonna concert tend to expect that sort of thing. Secondly, people in general are so used to such filth that they become desencitised and are no longer shocked by it.

So, no, I'm not shocked.

Now, I'll wrap this up with two tidbits: First, for fans and soon to be fans (you'll love it, trust me) of Angryalien.com's 30-second Bunny Theater, go check out his 30-second Casablance reenacted by bunnies! It's very funny.

The other tidbit is another religion quiz, recommend to me by Michael, in his comment on my last post. My results are:

1.Eastern Orthodox (100%)
2.Roman Catholic (100%)
3.Seventh Day Adventist (88%)
4.Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (86%)
5.Orthodox Quaker (78%)
6.Hinduism (61%)
7.Orthodox Judaism (61%)
8.Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (52%)
9.Islam (52%)
10.Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (52%)
11.Jehovah's Witness (50%)
12.Sikhism (46%)
13.Bah�'� Faith (37%)
14.Liberal Quakers (37%)
15.Jainism (36%)
16.Unitarian Universalism (29%)
17.Mahayana Buddhism (26%)
18.Theravada Buddhism (26%)
19.Reform Judaism (25%)
20.Neo-Pagan (18%)
21.Nontheist (16%)
22.Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (15%)
23.New Age (14%)
24.Secular Humanism (12%)
25.Scientology (11%)
26.New Thought (8%)
27.Taoism (8%)

You can take this quiz for yourself at:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

That is all I've got for the moment, but I'm sure I'll be able to blabber aimlessly for paragraph after paragraph again very soon. Until then, mat all your Thursdays be Perpetual...

A Quiz-fession

2006-05-16T19:47:00.000-04:00

Ok, actually, I have two confessions: 1) I am prone to making corny jokes (quiz-fession?), and hate myself when I do. 2) I actually enjoy taking stupid online quizzes... And whaddya know, I happen to have the results of one right here:

You fit in with:
Judeo-Christian

Your ideals mostly resemble those of the Judeo-Christian faith. You have the capacity for immense faith and spirituality. At your core, you believe in justice, goodness and redemption.

20% scientific.
80% faith-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Now for a real shock, or at least, a shock to me: people actually read Perpetual Thursday. No joke. In fact, you are really reading it right now.
Ok, so I'm not so suprised that people read it. I'm suprised that someone linked to it though.
Pro Multis - Fidelity to the World, linked to PT as an one of the people supporting Bishop Finn in the blogsphere (see my last post).
His post is worth going over to read, as it includes:
"An (expired) article from the Kansas City Star provides background information, confirming the factual claims (as opposed to the spin) in the NCR piece.
Posted on Sat, Sep. 17, 2005"

Thank's for pulling that article up, Michael! And thanks for the link!

Anyway, that's all for the moment. I'm babysitting siblings, but I'll try to have more to say later.

As if I ever really shut up.

Dropping My IQ

2006-05-10T16:38:00.000-04:00

My IQ just dropped about 11 points, and I place the blame completely on Pepsi. They make a soda called Pepsi NEX. Pepsi NEX has an offical game. You can play this game at: http://www.pepsi.co.jp/special/game.html
This game is the reason for my lowered IQ. If you play it, you'll see why. You'll also win this neat little banner to show you won:

It's a.... diffrent... game... thing.

Ok, onto something else. Hmmm... Something else... Ahh! Here is something. The Da Vinci Code. Now I'm sure you've all already heard plenty about the Da Vinci Code. I know I certianly have heard a lot. But have you heard that people are starving themselves to death over it? Yup. From an article at BREITBART.COM:
--
A Catholic group called on Christians to starve themselves to death in protest at the release of "The Da Vinci Code" at cinemas in India as others burned copies of the novel.

The Catholic Secular Forum said it hoped thousand of people would attend a protest Wednesday in Mumbai to burn effigies of Dan Brown, the author of the best-selling novel.

"It's to show the extent that our feelings have been hurt," said the group's general secretary Joseph Dias, speaking of the "fast unto death" call if the government fails to take action.
--
Read the full article. Now I'll be completely honest here. That's may not be the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but it fits up in the top 100. No offence intented.

Next I'd like to applaud Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. From an article in the National Catholic Reporter, entitled Extreme Makeover: the Diocese:
--
Perhaps nowhere in America has the transition from a church focused on social engagement and lay empowerment to one more concerned with Catholic identity and evangelization been more dramatic, or in some ways more wrenching, than in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese since the appointment of Bishop Robert Finn.

Finn has brought the diocese, for decades a model of the former category of church practice, to a screeching halt and sent it veering off in a new direction, leaving nationally heralded education programs and high-profile lay leaders and women religious with long experience abandoned and dismayed...

...

Finn, 53, a priest of the St. Louis archdiocese and a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, was named coadjutor of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in March 2004. The diocese comprises 130,000 Catholics in 27 countries of northwest Missouri. He succeeded Bishop Raymond Boland as ordinary on May 24, 2005. Within a week of his appointment he:

Dismissed the chancellor, a layman with 21 years of experience in the diocese, and the vice chancellor, a religious woman stationed in the diocese for nearly 40 years and the chief of pastoral planning for the diocese since 1990, and replaced them with a priest chancellor.
Cancelled the diocese’s nationally renowned lay formation programs and a master’s degree program in pastoral ministry.
Cut in half the budget of the Center for Pastoral Life and Ministry, effectively forcing the almost immediate resignation of half the seven-member team. Within 10 months all seven would be gone and the center shuttered.
Ordered a “zero-based study” of adult catechesis in the diocese and appointed as vice chancellor to oversee adult catechesis, lay formation and the catechesis study a layman with no formal training in theology or religious studies.
Ordered the editor of the diocesan newspaper to immediately cease publishing columns by Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien.
Announced that he would review all front page stories, opinion pieces, columns and editorials before publication.

By most accounts, he reached these decisions without consulting any of the senior leadership of the diocese or the people in the programs affected. Virtually no one on the chancery staff knew of the changes until they were announced at a news conference two days after his appointment. Many parish staffs and priests would first learn of the changes when they read about them in the local or diocesan newspaper...

...The new bishop “came with an agenda,” said Fr. Richard Carney, a priest for more than 50 years and a respected leader in the diocese. “He didn’t ask us who we are and what we are about. He looked at it from the vantage point of a coadjutor bishop and made decisions of what he was going to do about us. … Well, we’re not used to that kind of authoritarianism,” he said. “It didn’t show much respect for prior bishops who established it that way,” Carney said. “We feel beaten up.”
--
Read the full article. Thank God for Bishops like this one. I couldn't help but laugh as I read this article. Funny how the whole diosese seems to think they have been betrayed. Controlled. "Oh dear, isn't it horrible, we've got a bishop who has choosen to exercise his authority!" (Not an actual quote.) It seems more and more people have forgotten that the bishop is in charge. It's his job to do what he tinks best for those under his care. Albert de Zutter, editor of the newspaper for that diocese, complains of being "censored."
He says: "Bishop Boland must have said a hundred times, 'If you want a catechism, go buy a catechism. A newspaper is not a catechism.' " Well, a secular newspaper may not be a catechism, but a newspaper published by a Catholic diosese, should, logicially be a Catholic newspaper. As such it should be a catechism, to an extent. It certianly shouldn't publish anything that might be damaging to the souls of members of the diosese (such as the articles by Fr. McBrien of Notre Dame, which were being published before Bishop Finn put a stopp to them).
Let's be honest, the diosese is run by the Bishop, and he has a right to do what he thinks is right and in accordence with church teaching. Regardless of what others think.

Ok, now for some bragging on my part. Check out http://www.alternative-internet.com/fileprojectstudios/ The new offical page of The File Project Studios, the branch of DDS/AI behind the Captian Happy Show and News of the Future. It a rather cool looking web page. One of my better designs. So I'm showing it off.

SketchUp-ing.... Sketching-ups?

2006-05-08T22:49:00.000-04:00

Sadly, I don't have time for a long post right now - so I hope to have one tommrow. Until then, here's a short one:

Recently Google released an interesting piece of software for free. Google SketchUp. SketchUp is a professional 3D design studio with fantastic power. Google bought the company that makes it (much like when they bought Keyhole and created Google Earth) and, though they continue to sell SketchUp Pro versions, they now also offer a personal home use edition, Google SketchUp. Best part about it: it’s free. So naturally, I got it.

The tutorial says it takes 5 minutes to learn: it’s wrong. It took me more like 4 minutes. That’s right – it is really easy. It’s also a load of fun. I posted with this post a building I made with it. The signs were done in Paint.NET, though I could have done them in anything. The building was done in SketchUp. It took about three minutes. Not very advanced, but shows you what a beginner can do in no time a all.

All for now, big post sometime this week...

Saving Private Toby

2006-04-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

EDIT: Fixed link to WorldNetDaily.

Savetoby.com | Only YOU have the power to Save Toby!: "Toby is the cutest little bunny on the planet. Unfortunately, he will DIE on November 6th, 2006 if you don.t help."

Ok, now before I'm bombarded with "It's a hoax" Comments, like those all over Amazon.com's page for the Save Toby Book, let me say that I know it's a hoax. That's why I'm making note of it.

I've known about Toby for a while (at first the were looking for $50,000, instead of book sales), and never really took it seriously. It's a joke, and it's funny, right?

Well, if you went to Amazon then you'll see that not everyone thinks so. Just read the product reviews. Or, better yet, go to Savetoby.com, find their news page, and read their Hate Mail. That's funny. (Warning: The Hate Mail on Savetoby.com can be pretty rude, so I wouldn't recommend reading it with little kids around.)

These days people just can't seem to take a joke, can they?

We're having hardwood floors put in our house soon, and you know what that means... Ok, so maybe you don't. I'll tell you: moving EVERYTHING around and putting it back and all kinds of flipping similar stuff. Prime example: I just spend four hours buring the cat... wait... that's one hour re-hooking up the computer in the family room. Thankfully, Quezon and Dad un-hooked it, but still, re-hooking it is a pain in the aft end.

Father Saguto is going to be giving a lecture on Monday, May 15. Entitled "Never the Twain Shall Meet: Rock Music and Holiness of Life," it will take place from 7:00-9:00 PM in the schoolhouse at Sts. Cecilia and Philomena. For driving directions go to www.stceciliaofrome.com.
Sounds like fun to me, considering I've held arguements about this before (fighting on the anti-rock side). You can read the remnants of one at: http://alternative-internet.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=41
The beginning is missing, but it's still there.

Now I've got a sneak peak for visitors of Alternative Internet, especially ones who read Albert Skimberd. Albert isn't dead after all. But he is missing in action, so to speak. Be on the lookout the May for the Albert Skimberd Rescue Mission. A top team of experts (sort-of) have been assembled to find and save Albert. These are the best in their class (not-really) people, lords of their profession (not-at-all). Through their skill Albert will surely be saved (highely-unlikely). But anyway, you get my point. Albert is still out there, and at last someone is looking for him.

He's doomed.

Ok, now for bad, unhappy, horrible news. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS NOT APPROPIATE FOR ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 16 UNLESS WITH PARENTAL GUIDENCE!

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49925
Ok, then. That's it. Yes. I know. I'm not even going to bother commenting on it.

Yes, I'm outraged.

Yes, I'm offended.

No, I'm not going say any more.

That's enough for the moment...

Captian Happy

2006-04-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

Today it begins: the filming on The Captian Happy Show, soon to be the next big hit comedy. 4 minutes of film and 1 minute of bloopers out of a projected 1 hour, 15 minutes of film total, have been filmed. Captian Happy tells the tales of a bunch of people doing a bunch of stuff, all somehow connected to one of the trying to break into retired children's television show host Captian Happy's house to retrive a love letter he mailed there ,instead of to the girl he loves, be mistake.

Current cast members appearing on film are:
Michael Little as Fred
Christopher "Quezon" Simmons as Ted
Andrew Simmons as Tiny Tommy
Patrick Simmons as The Director
Janet Barton as Herself
Mrs. Wells as Herself

Its got laughs, its got plungers, its got moles, its got it all! Comming soon (Winter/Fall 2006, if all goes well) to a theater near you. As long as the distributers like it as much as we do so far.

It's gonna be good.

Plus, we made a new News of the Future. It may just be the best yet.

Kill Cafepress.com

2006-04-19T17:12:00.000-04:00

I'm very annoyed with Cafepress.com right now. Actually, you might say I'm boiling mad. I don't really have that great of a reason, save that the last three, THREE, 3, DREI... images I tried to put on the new Barg Trucket hat didn't work. Which annoyed me. Greatly.

Enough that I'm looking for alternatives to Cafepress (whose far to expensive anyway).

On a happier note, I think, Quezon is blogging fairly activily over at Fat Penguins, his new blog/website (the site is still under construction), and is working on getting some of his drawings scanned to post to his blog. You really should check it out, it looks GREAT. The penguins are absolutly awsome. They're pretty cute too.

That's all I got, I just wanted to rant about Cafepress and how much I hate them right now.

More later.

The Pope on Judas

2006-04-14T22:48:00.000-04:00

Papa Ratzi Post: Pope tells flock to humbly serve the poor and suffering: "ROME: The Pope recounted the biblical betrayal of Jesus by Judas, calling the apostle a double-crosser for whom 'money was more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love'.

The Pope's traditional depiction of Judas came during his Holy Thursday homily, a week after the release of an ancient Egyptian text dubbed the gospel of Judas, in which Judas is portrayed not as Jesus' betrayer but his confidant, doing his will by handing him over to his enemies to be crucified."

I linked to this article for two reasons: 1) With all the Judas buzz going around, this is fairly prominent news. 2) Later in the article it mentions that the Pope also preformed the feet washing ceremony which I mentioned in my last post.

Clean Feet!

2006-04-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to church, and got my feet washed. Yes, I do mean at the same time. For those of you who aren't familiar with the practice, on Maundy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, Jesus washedthe twelve apostles feet. So, at Mass (in the Tridentine right), on Maundy Thursday, the priest washes the right feet of twelve men from the parish. I had the honor of being one of those twelve men. (My father was asked, but he suggested they try to find someone else, as his feet are not exactly pretty. Not that mine are, but they aren't that bad...) It was a beautiful service with the stripping of the alters and procession to the Holy Eucharist's resting place (until Easter). The ceremony was only marred by my smelly feet.

There has been a letter floating around the web, supposedly written by John Cleese (of Monty Python) to the United States of America. I say supposedly beacuse John Cleese didn't write it. It's still very funny though, so I'm posting it for you all to read:

--
John Cleese's Letter to the USA

To the citizens of the United States of America, in light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II resumes monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy.

Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.8% of you who have, until now, been unaware there's a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America. Congress and the Senate are disbanded. A questionnaire circulated next year will determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid your transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. Look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Check "aluminium" in the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you pronounce it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'. Likewise you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary."

Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed." There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you should not have chat shows.

2. There is no such thing as "U.S. English." We'll let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u'.

3. You should learn to distinguish English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). Scottish dramas such as 'Taggart' will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.You must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1.

5. You should stop playing American "football." There's only one kind of football. What you call American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.1% of you aware there is a world outside your borders may have noticed no one else plays "American" football. You should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls.

Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies).

You should stop playing baseball. It's not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team stripe, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

6. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns, or anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because you are not sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you need a permit to carry a vegetable peeler.

7. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday. It will be called "Indecisive Day."

8. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left. At the same time, you will go metric without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. Learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't French, they're Belgian though 97.8% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat.

10. The cold tasteless stuff you call beer is actually lager. Only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer." Substances once known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," except for the product of the American Budweiser company which will be called "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

11. The UK will harmonise petrol prices (or "Gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it) for those of the former USA, adopting UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon, get used to it).

12. Learn to resolve personal issues without guns, lawyers or therapists. That you need many lawyers and therapists shows you're not adult enough to be independent. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

13. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

14. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.

* John Cleese
[Basil Fawlty, Fawlty Towers, Torquay, Devon, England]
--

Funny, isn't it? You can read other versions of the letter and letters written "in-reply" on Snopes.com.

Last of all I'd like to make note of a very important event: A WOOT-OFF! Starting yesteryday and apparently continuing today woot.com is having a Woot-Off. Instead of one item a day, as usual, they are selling each item until they sell out, and then changing to another item right away. Go, but, watch, jump up and down screaming, have your family and friends crowd around the screen, and listen to the Woof-off theme song until you have it memorized and can dance to it.

And now, for the moment, I rest.

Big M v.s. Quezon

2006-04-13T16:54:00.001-04:00

Ok, here we have a somewhat disturbing picture. Quezon and his army of... 3 other Quezons... are fighting Big M and his army of 3 other Big Ms. Scary. (In case you don't know, Quezon is the blond one).

So I'm having too much fun with the camera.

The picture was actually failry easy to take and edit (yes, those are real pictures of Quezon and Big M), execpt for the place where a dead Quezon and an equally dead Big M are lying on the ground.

The second picture is of me peering out from behind a telephone pole. Quezon took the pictures for this, and I did the editing. We all have agreed that the one of me with my tounge out is a little... creepy. But we're ok with that.

Now that you're making the picture of me your new computer wallpaper, and printing Quezon v.s. Big M out to make your room wallpaper, here is another picture for your bathroom wallpaper.

This picture is a prime example of what my second worst nightmares are like. Two Big Ms. And unlike in picture one, they aren't getting killed. It's scary, it's sad, it's disturbing, it looks great printed on a roll of toliet paper, and it is the easyiest and maybe best looking of all these fun pictures.

Just when you though you were safe, I have one last picture.

I know, you hate me.

This last one is of my worst nightmare. My worst of worst nightmares. My worstest nightmare ever. The worst... you get it. Three Quezons. Again, none of them are getting killed, they're just there. Trying to look cool. I think.

One last thing, my second Squidoo lens, Desktop Publishing for Morons, is online. So go pick up some of my lousy tips and great web finds. More to come there...

Well, that's it for now, though tonight I may have more to say, as I'll be gettting my feet washed at church.

Yuck.

A Giant Squid

2006-04-11T17:28:00.000-04:00

I Squidoo. No really, I do. Go to: http://www.squidoo.com/perpetualthursday to find my new, first, and for the moment only operating Squdoo Lens, the Perpetual Thursday lens. There you can find an RSS feed for Perpetual Thursday, an RSS feed for the Father "X" Sermons, links to my websites, and a collection of products availible on Cafepress.com sold in shops I run (hopefully more to come). I hope to get my other lens, Desktop Publishing for Morons, running soon. But what is a Squidoo lens?

Well, a lens is, err... I'll let Squidoo explain it: "A lens is one person's (lensmaster's) view on a topic he cares about. More specifically, a lens is a single web page filled with information and links that point to other web pages, to continually updated RSS feeds, or to relevant advertising. It's a place to start, not finish." Ok, so there you have it. A lensmaster is a bit of a self-proclaimed 'expert' on a topic, in many cases, though some are truly experts, and others are just people creating a lens about nothing in particular. Take me for example, Desktop Publishing for Morons is going to be about, duh, desktop publishing, a subject on which I am a self-proclaimed expert. As for the Perpetual Thursday Lens, it's not on a particular subject, it's just kind of a fun little place to check out.

Before I forget to write it, I'll mention a couple changes to my blog I've made. I've added a "More..." button at the bottom of the XML feeds section on the sidebar, which links to a page with 23 additional (in addition the the Google and Yahoo) services that you can subscribe to Perpetual Thursday with, including del.ic.ious, My MSN, and My AOL. Also, at the end of each of my posts I've added a "Bookmark" area so you can instantly bookmark my posts with places like Digg. I'd like to thank TwisterMc for the Chicklet Creator and Social Bookmark Creator, the tools I used to help generate these sections.

I've got more, but I'll say it later. Let me wrap up this post with a link to watch over the comming weeks: http://www.alternative-internet.com/quezon/blog/
Quezon, a Blogger? You may well wonder. But well see. He'll be customizing his template and starting to post after Easter. Expect lots of cool pictures of Dragons. Also, take /blog/ off the end of that address to find what shall soon be Quezon's own mini-website thing, and the future home of Barg.

A School That Discriminates

2006-04-04T22:33:00.000-04:00

New Oxford Review: "In his December 2005 article, 'Homosexual Activism Meets Catholic Kindergarten,' Michael S. Rose reported on the case of St. John the Baptist School in Costa Mesa, Calif., where two homosexual men had enrolled two of their four adopted children in that Catholic school's kindergarten. The homosexual couple attended Mass at the parish, and were given jobs at the school. When concerned parents urged the school to ask the couple to remove their children from the kindergarten, the school responded by threatening the concerned parents! The parents were made to either apologize to the school principal or remove their own students from the school. Not the outcome Catholics would expect from a Catholic school. "
Read the full article at here.

Wow, at last school that upholds it values.

How err... Romantic.

2006-04-01T13:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, before I get to the topic of this post, I'll explain those 6 landscapes I posted. I created them with the personal edition of a program called Terragen (http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/). I found out about due to an urban legend that I learned about on Snopes about a supposed picture of a sunset taken at the north pole. The picture in question was, in truth, generated with Terragen. So I got the personal (non-commercial use) edition (which is free, yay) and played with it. Those landscapes are the result of only two days worth of use. And by two days I mean about two hours or less time actually using it. It's very cool.

Ok, now for the topic of this post: Romance. But not just any romance, Google Romance. That's right, Google is launching a dating service. Sure, it's only beta for now, but still. Isn't it romantic?

ROMANCE: A one scene play.
By Patrick J. Simmons
Bill & Jill (married) are visiting with their friends John and Betty (also married).

Bill: Jill and I still remember the first time we met. It was so wonderful. (Kisses Jill, who blushes.) We were introduced by a mutual friend at a party, we danced and talked together all night, and then I walked Jill home through the park and it rained.
Jill: It was so romantic, a beautiful night, walking together under Bill's unbrella through the beautiful park.
Bill: Only four weeks later I proposed.
Jill: And I said yes, I loved Bill so much, and still do! (Kisses Bill.)
Bill: How about you too?
John: We met on Google.
Betty: It was sooo romantic...
John: I entered in my personal info and got hooked up to her.
Betty: And we text messaged for like, hours. It was soooo romantic.
John: And after about two months we met, started dating, and a few weeks later I proposed.
Betty: And I said yes, it was sooo romantic.
Bill: Oh, Google. Huh... Very... err... interesing.
Jill: Yes... Good for you...

THE END

Ok, now I don't have any problems with Google. I love em' (I use blogger don't I). But Google Romance? It's a little much. Even for me.

Ok, yes. I know that Google Romance is an April Fools joke. But that play can apply to all those other online dating services. And I couldn't help but play along.

2006-03-31T23:03:00.001-05:00

Grey River

2006-03-31T23:03:00.000-05:00

Lava River

2006-03-31T23:02:00.001-05:00

Meadow

2006-03-31T23:02:00.000-05:00

Their Paradise

2006-03-31T23:00:00.000-05:00

Grey Sunrise

2006-03-31T22:34:00.000-05:00

Frosty Ledges

Housefly Glasses

2006-03-29T20:49:00.000-05:00

Let's see here, what do I have to say...

First off, I'd like to note Emily's comment on my last post, as it was correct. I, unintentionally, downplayed the Catholic part of Father "X" and focused to much on the fact that I thought I designed such a cool page. This was not at all my intent, as I just said. Father "X" is a fantastic homilist and his sermons are most definatly worth listening to. I've listened to three of them as of date, and found them very good. "Heaven or Hell," which is currently availible at the Father X website (http://www.alternative-internet.com/features/fatherx/) may be the best I've heard so far. Another sermon by him (also currently availible online) "Words Have Power" is the other contender for best. Anyway, they are very good Catholic sermons, and worth at least a listen.

For those of you have love great books, such as myself, I've found a few treats: 3 diffrent online book sites with huge collections of free classics online. First off, Wikisourse (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page) - The Free Library. Wikisourse has, as of this posts date, 22,691 texts availible. Second, and perhaps even better, is Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/). Project Gutenberg has a giantic collection (17,000 at the time of this post), which though not as big as Wikisourse, is still VERY good. Why, hoever, is Gutenberg perhaps better than Wikisourse is it has less books? Beacuse Gutenberg also has a collection of audiobooks at http://www.gutenberg.org/audio/. So for people like me who enjoy a good book anywhere (but get too sick to read in the car), check them out. Their collection consists of both human and computer read books, and they have plenty of each. Last of all is a directory of online books from these and other sites, The Online Books Page at: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/. Aside from being a great way to search through many online book collections at one time, they also collect news concerning online book collections.

Now at this point you are probably wondering why this post is titled "Housefly Glasses." Well, here we go. National Geographic's Photo in the News page has recently posted two very interesting photos that I thought I would share here. First is a picture of what an eclipse lloks like from the space station, and it's very cool: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0329_060329_eclipse.html
Second is a photograph of a housefly. With glasses. That photo is located at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0328_060328_fly_glasses.html
Read the story with it to get it. I thought it was rather neat.

Anyway, that's all for now, so until next time, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Father "X"

2006-03-27T23:13:00.000-05:00

Recently I was loaned, by my good friend Emily, a series of CDs to copy containing sermons by an unnamed priest who is apparently a very good homilist. So far I've listened to two of his homilies and must admit, they are quite good. (Not as good, in my opinion, as our own fantastic Fr. Saguto, parish priest of St. Cecilia and Philomena, but still very good.)

This unnamed priest, at the request of his parishoners, has given his permission to spread these homilies by any means, provided that it isn't for profit. Thus, the CDs are ment to be passed around and copied so that everyone everywhere can hear his homlies.

While making the copies, I had an idea.

Why not, said I, put these homlies on my website? That way, everyone everywhere would have easy access to them. I'd get a little free populatiry for my site, the homlies would get spread, and hopefully more souls will be saved from the eternal fires of Hell. What a fantastic idea! And so it came to pass that I set up The Father "X" Sermons webpage.

Go there, check it out, and enrich your soul.

Oh, and less importantly, notice the nice page which might be some of my best web design work yet.

The Father "X" Sermons are located at:
http://www.alternative-internet.com/features/fatherx/

"APEX" Music

2006-03-27T22:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, now this made me laugh. A lot.

CHRISTUS VINCIT: MUSICA CATHOLICAM "APEX": "K-tel is making a marketing comeback with this new Catholic collection - Music for the APEX Catholic. Twenty great cuts, all for that APEX Catholic in your life."

Quezon's Toy

2006-03-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

Those last two posts might seem strange, as I have no real explination for what the "toy" is. That's what this post is for. Quezon built the 'toy' out of Legos (3 sets including one with gears and motors and one with hydrolic pumps). But what is it? It's a grape juice maker.

No joke.

It has three small bins, one for sugar (if you want sugar in your grape juice), one for a grape (cut in half), and one for the mixing. You set a grape in the grape bin (once again, it must be cut in half), and run the motor. The motor powers the pumps which crush the grape. That all the really happens (yes, it works). In theroy, the process dumbs grape juice (from about 10 grapes) into the mixing bin, to which you add sugar. The motor also powers (in addition to the pump) and set of spinning blenders that mix the sugar and juice, which then runs out a hole in the side into your cup.

It all works perfectly, execpt that it can't real make enough juice for it to be practical.

But it's still neat, right?

2006-03-23T23:08:00.000-05:00

Quezon's Toy 2#

2006-03-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

Quezon's Toy 1#

A Catholic Barfight?

2006-03-23T17:23:00.000-05:00

I came across an intresting podcast yesterday while burning CDs, and thought I would share it. For those of you reading who don't already know, I'm a Traditional Catholic (Tridentine Latin Mass), and that's part of why this podcast appealed to me. It should also appeal to any Novus Order Catholics who disagree with/agree with/want to know more about the Traditionalists. The podcast in question is called The Catholic Barfight (http://catholicbarfight.libsyn.com). The format of the podcast can be summed up as sush: "A Novus Ordo Catholic and a Traditonal Catholic argue about issues concerning the faith and morals." The hosts, Kevin and Ben, give a pretty good show, and I found thier conversation, though not as intellectual as some writers tend to be (No offence, but Kevin, the Traditionalist, is no Michael Rose or Christopher Ferrara, nor is Ben a Novus Ordo equivalent), very engaging. They begin each show with a joke, then preform the "Main Event," which is their arguement, and lastly, they do an "Origin of the Phrase" where Kevin gives the roots of a word or phrase. As of this post, there are only 4 podcasts: A Promo; Barfight 1; Barfight 2; and a mini podcast, Barfight 2.5. I've only listened to Barfights 1 & 2, but, once again, I found both interesting. I highly recommend taking a listen!
NOTE: The Catholic Barfight hasn't posted anything new for a little over a month, and their last podcast is from January 29th, but the say they'll be comming back, and I think they're worth watching for.

This podcast has sent me into a podcast finding spree, and I'm loving it. I'll say more the more I find.

For those of you who go to, know about, or would like to know about Sts. Philomena & Cecilia Catholic Church (formerly St. Cecilia of Rome, though the website is still at www.stceciliaofrome.com), here's a little news item: SOMEONE KNOW'S WE EXIST! Two blogs have refrenced the parish:
http://thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/2005/11/new-fssp-parish-in-indiana.html
Mentions us and has a nice picture of Mass (I'm the server second from the right).

http://christusvincit.blogspot.com/2005/11/new-liturgical-movement.html
Mentions the other blog's post (and by a strange coincendence is related to a podcast I found and downloaded for later listing while posting this; though that's not how I found this blog post).

I would also love to post about the Candlelight Mass at Sts. Cecilia and Philomena, be Emily beat me to it. So I won't.

That's all for now, may all your Thursdays be Perpetual.

Little Tiny Man

2006-03-18T00:55:00.000-05:00

One O'Clock
A Poem by Patrick J. Simmons

A little tiny man hid in a little tiny room,
waiting for the clock to strike one.
For he had an evil plan to bring gloom unto the land
And that was when the deed was too be done.

He took a little box, And he filled it up with rocks,
And set it in a windowsill to sun.
For hidden neath' the stones, was a creature who alone,
Could bring an end to everybody's fun.

It had two legs and had two arms,
Just like you and I,
But it could only cause us harms,
And make our joy all die.

But as the little man rubbed his greedy little hands,
A boy into the room silently crept.
And stepped upon the box, the creature crushed under his socks,
And the evil little man now sadly wept.

And running to the door the man tried win once more,
But was stopped by another little slip.
The boy took a step back, to se upon what he had smacked,
And over a little block he did trip.

He landed on the little man with a nice resounding "WHAM."
And though the story ends at last, at not one, but still half-past.

--

No, I'm not a poet. But it's fun to dabble now and then.

Dreams

2006-03-08T23:06:00.000-05:00

On Homeschool ALUMNI (which I am begining to like quite a bit) there is a tread about Dreams. I posted in reply to it, and though I might post my reply here as well, for those interested:

"I used to have two often recurring dreams.

In one I would be playing the old computer game 'Wolfenstein 3D' I wouldn't be playing it at the computer, though. I'd be in the game. I would BE the main charecter. I would, however, be constricted to the movment the game allowed, and was able to see how much health and ammo I had under my vision if I looked. I would go through the level (always the same one), and everything would be just like the game (graphic and sound wise). I would always do very well until I can to a certian corner. Stepping out from behind it I would meet a blue clad general with a shotgun who would shoot me. Then the dream would end. I wouldn't always wake up right away, I'd never scream. He would just shoot and it was over.

Later on this same dream changed and the general bacame a charector from another game, 'Body Count,' one who my friends and I called "Big Shamu." Otherwise, the dream would be the same.

In the other dream I would be running away from a dog in our neighborhood (a real life dog) named Chewy. He would be trying to bite me. (He was a german shepard and had a reputatuion for biting neighborhood kids, so this wasn't surprising in my dream). I would run away from him, down our street, never looking back but always knowing he was there. Eventually I would sort of leave my body and see myself from the side in third person, almost two dimensional. I would run up to a cliff (which did not exist in our neighborhood) and just as Chewy came up behind me, fall off. I would then be back in my body, but instead of falling through the sky, I'd be falling through a perfect cylinder-shaped tunnel whose walls were all made up of a portrait of George Washington in gold frames. Then, eventually, I would see my own bed at the end of the tunnel. It would be unmade, and I would not be in it. I would fall out of the tunnel and land on it. Then the dream would end, and I would wake up (often in the middle of the night) lying face down on my bed with it bouncing slightly, as if I had really landed on it.

I did some checking and found out from my bothers that I do indeed, sometimes sleepwalk.

I don't have these dreams anymore. They just seem to have wen't away."

Homeschool ALUMNI

2006-03-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

I just joined Homeschool ALUMNI beacuse Emily told me too. I'm not quite an alumni but according to her I don't need to be. I suppose I'll see how it works out. Also to be noted for Albert fans, I've managed to collect more entries and will be posting them over the next few days (before Sunday, at least). Oh well, I'll post more when I know more and am not too tired to type it. Something about Homeschool ALUMNI before Sunday as well, I hope.